Research

Funding: Ministerium für Energie­wende, Klimaschutz, Umwelt und Natur, 308.493 EUR

Project Details:
Common Eider (Somateria mollissima) is classified as endangered in Europe due to continuous The population declines. Meanwhile, its occurrence along the coast of Schleswig-Holstein has potential for conflict with the culturally established and economically important fisheries.
This pilot study will develop approaches to startle common eiders from mussel farms and allow a sustainable coexistence of conventional fisheries in the Baltic habitat and protected species. The main focus is the protection of mussel farms against common eider predation. However, the results can potentially be transferred to fisheries, to prevent unintentional bycatch of birds in gillnets.
Post-mortem examinations of common eiders will be carried out simultaneously, to find out about potential pathological causes for the population decline and gain an insight into the health status of the population. These examinations include bacteriological, virological and parasitological analyses. Furthermore, toxicological analyses will deliver information about environmental pollution load.

Funding: Niedersächsische Tierseuchenkasse, 134.050 EUR

Project Details:
The project aims to develope and to evaluate a filtration system that can be used in natural vetilated poultry houses in transistion periods to prevent from AI entries via air. The lifespan of filters, filter efficiencies and the impact of air filtration on the quality of climate in natural ventilated barns are unknown. Therefore, investigations will be conducted at a natural ventilated turkey barn, equiped with a fine dust filtration system.

Cooperation Partners:

Big Dutchman AG

Funding: QS Fachgesellschaft Geflügel GmbH, 40.000 EUR

Project Details:
The aim of the project is to scientifically evaluate a combination of different approaches in practice and to comprehensively analyze whether the following measures significantly improve animal health and, in particular, reliably prevent enterococcal infections.

Project Details:
Meerschweinchen werden häufig mit Urinabsatzbeschwerden oder Schmerzen beim Urinabsatz in der tierärztlichen Praxis vorgestellt. Häufig liegen in diesen Fällen bakterielle Infektionen als Ursache vor. Dieses Projekt wertet die mikrobiologischen Untersuchungsergebnisse von Harnuntersuchungen bei Meerschweinchen mit Zystitis aus, welche in den letzten 10 Jahren in der Klinik für Heimtiere, Reptilien und Vögel durchgeführt wurden.

Project Details:
Bisher existieren in der veterinärmedizinischen Lehre keine 3D- gedruckten Simulationsmodelle für Reptilien. Um die klinische Ausbildung der Studierenden zu verbessern soll ein praxisnahes Schildkröten-Simulationsmodell entwickelt und angefertigt werden. Im Rahmen einer Dissertation soll anschließend evaluiert werden, inwieweit das Modell in der praktischen Anwendung von Studierenden im Rahmen von Wahlpflichtkursen an toten Tierkörpern erfolgreich umgesetzt werden kann.

Project Details:
Diese Projekt analysiert Vorstellungsgründe, Symptome, Therapie und den Krankheitsverlauf sowie Spätfolgen von Kaninchen mit einer Enzephalitozoon cuniculi (E.c.)-Infektion. Dazu werden die Untersuchungsergebnisse von Kaninchen mit einem positiven Antikörpertiter gegen E.c. ausgewertet.

Project Details:
Dieses Projekt wertet die Anästhesieprotokolle der Klinik für Heimtiere, Reptilien und Vögel aus. Besonderes Augenmerk liegt hierbei auf der Untersuchung und Ursachenforschung von Narkosezwischenfällen. Außerdem auf der Analyse der verwendeten Medikamente, Narkoseregime und postoperativer Versorgung.

Funding: Morris Animal Foundation, 62.488 EUR

Project Details:
We will investigate brain function, brain metabolism and gut microbiome in dogs to distinguish between epileptic seizures and a episodic movement disorder called paroxysmal dyskinesia - commonly mistaken for epileptic seizures - to improve diagnosis and appropriate treatment

Funding: Dieses Projekt wird durch die Fritz-Ahrberg-Stiftung gefördert., 40.000 EUR

Project Details:
The topic of this project picks up on the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic and aims to investigate the safety of food transported in different "take-away""-menu trays during delivery or self-collection. Commercially available menu trays will be considered, and different packaging systems (open, semi-open, and closed) made of different materials will be included in the studies. Since it cannot be guaranteed that the food will be consumed immediately and completely after delivery, different storage temperatures and storage times will also be considered. In this three-stage project, cooked, unbreaded pork and turkey cutlets will be examined first, followed by cutlets contaminated (inoculated) with specific bacterial species and, finally, packaging materials inoculated in the same way. The aim is to gain improved insights into the development of microbial growth in prepared meat in different take-away meal tray systems."

Funding: Fritz-Ahrberg-Stiftung, 100.000 EUR

Project Details:
technique
Summary:
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an increasingly common food-associated cause of acute viral hepatitis. To ensure rapid pathogen identification and tracing of the infection sources, rapid and reliable detection methods are crucial. Various approaches are available for the detection of HEV, some of which involve considerable effort, such as cultivation of cell cultures or performing animal experiments. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification enables rapid pathogen detection with low-cost equipment and little work effort, qualifying the method for on-site application. Within the framework of the project a LAMP assay for detecting HEV in pork products and liver will be developed and validated. For this purpose, suitable genomic target regions will be identified and used for specific primer design. Assay validation includes analytical specificity and sensitivity testing as well as determining the detection limit in artificially contaminated matrices under the influence of product-typical background flora. Finally, the assay will be applied to natively contaminated samples to define the diagnostic quality criteria of the test procedure. In the second phase of the project, pig livers will be examined using the developed LAMP assay and classified into three categories according to viral load. Afterwards, liver sausages will be produced from this material and tested again so that conclusions can be drawn about the significance of the virus load in the raw material and influences of the production process on the viral load in final products.