Research

Funding: DFG Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 1270 (2017-2025) ?Electrically Active Implants? ELAINE.

Project Details:
Der dtsz Hamster ist ein hervorragend charakterisiertes Modell für die Dystonie, der Gendefekt ist jedoch nicht bekannt. Eine Identifikation des Effektes ist wichtig zum Verständnis der Pathophysiologie der Dystonie und zur Therapieentwicklung. In diesem Projekt werden Genom und Transkriptom des Modells sequenziert und auf Gendefekte hin untersucht.

Funding: Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes

Project Details:
We investigate the pathophysiological pathways underlying post-COVID-19 syndrome with the goal to develop biomarkers and rational therapeutic intervention.

Cooperation Partners:

Prof. Dr. Gülsah Gabriel (TiHo, HPI Hamburg), Prof. Dr. Günter Höglinger (Neurology, MHH), Prof. Dr. Ulrich Kalinke (TWINCORE Hannover)

Project Details:
-

Funding: Deutscher Akadademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD-PROCOPE), 9.108 EUR

Project Details:
Nonverbal vocal communication in humans contains information about the emotional state of the sender which can be used by the receiver. Comparing the acoustic structure and the context of production of these vocalizations across mammalian species revealed cross-taxa similarities suggesting a pre-human origin in encoding emotional information acoustically (e.g., Davila Ross et al., 2009, Newman, 1985, Zimmermann et al., 2013). In contrast to human laughter and cries, our knowledge on other nonverbal sounds such as the Sigh is limited. Therefore, the current study investigated whether vocalizations comparable to the human sigh can be found in nonhuman mammals and whether these vocalizations can be related to emotional states of the sender as well as to the quality of social interaction.
In the order Perissodactyla, horses and rhinoceros are known to produce noisy vocalizations at a high call rate (e.g. Policht et al., 2008, Yeon et al., 2011). The Snort is one of this noisy vocalizations, characterized as an explosive more or less pulsed breathing sound produced by nostril vibrations while expulsing the air. The function of this call type is not yet clear. First, it was proposed that this call type might have a hygienic function rather than a communicative function (e.g., Yeon et al., 2011, Linn et al., 2018). Second, it was proposed that the Snort might be an indicator of positive emotions or at least a relaxed state in horses. In the rhinoceros infant Snorts occurred also during affiliative interactions supporting to function as an indicator of the positive emotional state (Linn et al., 2018). This suggests that either the Snort has a communicative function to signal socially acceptance to group members or express an internal relaxed state of the sender which might affect group members via an emotional contagion mechanism.
To clarify the function of Snorts and to investigate to which extent there are cross-taxa similarities at least in the order Perissodactyla, we aim to compare Snort production between horses and rhinoceros.

Cooperation Partners:

Idu Azogu-Sepe, Serengeti Park Hodenhagen

Prof. Alban Lemasson, Rennes 1 University, France

Prof. Martine Hausberger, Rennes 1 University, France

Dr. Mathilde Stomp, Rennes 1 University, France

Planét Sauvage, Frankreich

Project Details:
Part A.) Warmblood horses without back pain are trained three times per week up to 30 minutes on a water treadmill. The remaining days the horses are in ridden training as usual. Back dimensions are objectively assessed at week 0, 3, 6 and 9 by using a flexible curved ruler. The cross-sectional areas of the deep muscles (Mm. multifidi) are determined by ultrasound examination.

Part B.) Warmblood riding horses with clinical signs of back pain are randomized into three groups to participate in a 6-week water treadmill, lunge training or dry treadmill training program at otherwise same conditions. A structured clinical examination of the thoracic and lumbar back region is performed independently by two clinicians at 3 time points (baseline, week 3, 6). Mechanical nociceptive thresholds (MNT) are determined with pressure algometry.

Results:

Rogge, L., Geiger, T., Delarocque, J., Geburek, F. Water treadmill training causes a significant increase in back dimensions at the level of Th10 in warmblood riding horses without a history of back pain. In: Proceedings of the 4th Scientific Meeting of the European College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation, ECVSMR; Maisons-Alfort, Paris, France, July 22-23, 2023; ECVSMR, p. 59, ISSN: 2510-8093

 

Geiger, T., Rogge, L., Delarocque, J., Geburek, F. Comparative effect of water treadmill training, lunging and treadmill training during rehabilitation of horses with back pain. In: Proceedings of the 4th Scientific Meeting of the European College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation, ECVSMR; Maisons-Alfort, Paris, France, July 22-23, 2023; ECVSMR, ISSN: 2510-8093, p. 64

Project Details:
Kniegelenkserkrankungen kommen bei Pferden regelmäßig vor. Bei der ultrasonographischen Untersichung ihrer Menisken entstehen akustische Artefakte, die mit krankhaften Befunden verwechselt werden können. In dieser Studie sollen ultrasonographische Befunde an Menisken von Pferden ohne Kniegelenkserkrankung mit anatomischen und feingeweblichen Befunden verglichen werden, um eine bessere Abgrenzung zwischen normalen Ultraschall-Befunden mit den üblichen akustischen Artefakten einerseits und pathologischen Veränderungen andererseits zu ermöglichen. Durch eine Einteilung der Präparate in verschiedene Lebensaltersgruppen wird zudem eine Einordnung alterungsbedingter morphologischer Veränderungen am Meniskus erwartet.

Results:

Geburek, F., Bodem, L., Staszyk, C.

Tears or Artifacts? Comparison between normal ultrasound and macro-anatomy of the medial femorotibial meniscus.

In: Scientific Abstracts of the 29th Annual Scientific Meeting of the ECVS. Vet. Surg. 2020, 49(S2), p. O195

https://doi.org/10.1111/vsu.13478

Cooperation Partners:

Prof. Dr. C. Staszyk, Institut für Veterinär-Anatomie, -Histologie und -Embryologie, Fachbereich Veterinärmedizin, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen

Project Details:
Die Vermittlung und die Erhaltung der Zellpolarität sind wichtig zur ordnungsgemäßen Funktion der Zelle und ihrem umgebenden Gewebe. Ein wichtiger Signalgeber hierbei ist die Gravitation. Kommt es zum Verlust der Polarität, beispielsweise durch Defekte in polaritätsvermittelnden Genen, kommt es in der Regel zu Tumoren. Aufgrund ihres komplexen anatomischen und genetischen Aufbaus sind die dafür relevanten genregulatorischen Zusammenhänge bislang nicht hinreichend charakterisiert.
In diesem Projekt werden Veränderungen in der Genaktivität in dem einfach aufgebauten Meerestier, Trichoplax adhaerens, unter simulierter Schwerelosigkeit untersucht.
Das Projekt wird in Kooperation mit dem Gravitationsbiologen Dr. Jens Hauslage vom Deutschen Luft- und Raumfahrtzentrum (DLR) in Köln und Patrick Humbert, Professor für Krebsbiologie von der La Trobe University in Melbourne durchgeführt.

Cooperation Partners:

Deutsches Luft- und Raumfahrtzentrum (DLR);

La Trobe University in Melbourne

Funding: Bundesministerium für Gesundheit, Berlin (als Bestandteil der Finanzierung des WHO-CC)

Project Details:
Outside Europe, data on real antibiotic usage in veterinary medicine are available only in a few countries. In the frame of the project VetCAb-ID, a worldwide usable data base was developed that is provided to project partners for the recording of antibiotic usage in animal populations and to determine the treatment frequency of a herd or flock. The database can be individually adapted to the relevant conditions of the respective country and its animal husbandry. The concept is based on the long-time project VetCAb, where data on veterinary prescription of antibiotics in Germany are collected and analysed continuously in a standardised manner. So far, collaboration was started with partners from Chile, Pakistan, Zambia und, St. Kitts.
Link: https://ibei.tiho-hannover.de/vetcab-id

Results:

Mohsin M, Farooq U, Hartmann M, Brogden S, Kreienbrock L, Stoffregen J. Case Study: Using a Shared International Database to Document Veterinary Consumption of Antibiotics in Pakistan. Antibiotics (Basel). 2023 Feb 15;12(2):394. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics12020394.

https://ibei.tiho-hannover.de/vetcab-id

Cooperation Partners:

- Médico Veterinario, Departamento de Medicina Preventiva, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias y Pecuarias, Universidad de Chile;

- Institute of Microbiology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan

- Department of Disease Control, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zambia

- Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre, St. Kitts und Nevis

Funding: VolkswagenStiftung, 6.569 EUR

Project Details:
The project aims to employ modern genetic tools to identify lemur populations of high conservation value to help prioritizing conservation efforts and to develop and implement conservation strategy for the most threatened and valuable lemur populations. The following points constitute the major project objectives: Objective 1: Identify and sample suitable populations of two lemur model species in the study region. Objective 2: Characterize the populations with regard to their genetic diversity, genetic uniqueness, and genetic connectivity to identify the site(s) with the highest conservation value and concern.

Cooperation Partners:

Dr. Fano Ratsoavina, Universität Antananarivo, Madagaskar

Helena Teixeira, PhD, University of La Réunion, La Réunion

Funding: BMBF - DLR Projektträger, Teilprojekt aus dem BIODIVERSA Programm der EU, 301.195 EUR

Project Details:
The global biodiversity crisis that is affecting ecosystems worldwide is a major subject of concern and is expected to worsen with ongoing global changes. Climate change together with other anthropogenic factors will lead to the displacement of many favorable environments in the next decades owing to fast altitudinal and latitudinal shifts, with greatest predicted impacts in biodiversity hotspots. These shifts will lead to an increase in Habitat Loss and Fragmentation (HL&F), the main threats to Biodiversity worldwide. There is therefore a need to understand the consequences of HL&F, and to identify the barriers to gene flow at various spatial and temporal scales. We study HL&F in the context of past and future environmental changes, across taxa and regions. We use Madagascar as a model region and use comparative genomic analyses to infer generalizable critical features of ecological networks across various taxonomic and spatial scales. In particular, we identify barriers to gene flow based on genomic datasets and study the effects of forest fragmentation on the vegetation, and the abundance and parasite load of two mouse lemur and two rodent species.

Results:

Mercado-Malabet, F.; Ramsay, M.S.; Chell, C.; Andriatsitohaina, B.; Radespiel, U.; Lehman, S.M. (2024). Where the small things are: Modelling edge effects on mouse lemur population density and distribution in northwestern Madagascar. Am. J. Primatol., 87, e23621. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.23621.

 

Ramsay, M.S.; Sgarlata, G.; Barratt, C.D.; Salmona, J.; Andriatsitohaina, B.; Kiene, F.; Manzi, S.; Ramilison, M.L.; Rakotondravony, R.; Chikhi, L.; Lehman, S.M.; Radespiel, U. (2023): Effects of forest fragmentation on connectivity and genetic diversity in an endemic and an invasive rodent in northwestern Madagascar. Genes, 14(7), 1451. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes14071451.

 

Kiene, F.; Springer, A.; Andriatsitohaina, B.; Ramsay, M.S.; Rakotondravony, R.; Strube, C.*; Radespiel, U.* (2023): Filarial infections in lemurs: Evidence for a wide geographical distribution and low host specificity among lemur species. Am. J. Primatol., 85(2), e23458. DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23458 (*: joint senior authors)

 

Kiene, F.; Antriatsitohaina B.; Ramsay, M.S.; Rakotondravony, R.; Strube, C.*; Radespiel, U.* (2021): Habitat fragmentation and vegetation structure impact gastrointestinal parasites of small mammalian hosts in Madagascar. Ecology and Evolution 11, 6766-6788. Doi: 10.1002/ece3.7526.

 

Andriatsitohaina, B.; Romero-Mujalli, D.; Ramsay, M.S.; Kiene, F.; Rasoloharijaona, S.; Rakotondravony, R.; Lehman, S.M.; Radespiel, U. (2020): Effects of habitat edges on vegetation structure and the vulnerable golden-brown mouse lemur (Microcebus ravelobensis) in northwestern Madagascar. BMC Ecology 20, 69. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12898-020-00337-z.

Cooperation Partners:

Dr. Lounès Chikhi, IGC, Oeiras, Portugal

Prof. Olivier Mazet, Universität Toulouse, Frankreich

Dr. Guillaume Besnard, Universität Toulouse, Frankreich

Dr. Jordi Salmona, Universität Toulouse, Frankreich

Prof. Shawn Lehman, Universität Toronto, Canada

Dr. Romule Rakotondravony, Universität Mahajanga, Madagaskar

Prof. Solofonirina Rasoloharijaona, Universität Mahajanga, Madagaskar

Travis Steffens, PhD, University of Guelph, Canada; Planet Madagascar