Research

Funding: Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur , 50.000 EUR

Project Details:
Within a blended learning event, content on interprofessionalism and teamwork is delivered across professional groups via self-study units in TiHoMoodle, in video conferences and in live events in the communication room in the Clinical Skills Lab. With the help of actors, relevant aspects of communication between veterinarians and veterinary assistants as well as animal owners are simulated and practiced so that the foundation can be laid for effective and harmonious collaboration in veterinary practice.

Results:

OER-Beitrag: https://www.twillo.de/edu-sharing/components/collections?id=784dd823-e75e-48ed-a8c3-6de63136b02b

https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14020229

Funding: Pharmacosmos A/S Holbaek (Dänemark), 35.200 EUR

Project Details:
Uniferon is an injectable 20% iron dextran for prevention and treatment of anaemia in swine. 200 mg iron is routinely administered to piglets within the first days of life to prevent development of anaemia. Empirical observations show, that iron deficiency can develop within the first four weeks of life despite this early preventive measure due to the high growth rates of modern cross-bred pigs. While the product Uniferon can be used in flexible volumes, so that an adaptation of the iron amount administered is possible, the competitor product Forceris can only be used in a fixed dosage of 1.5 ml containing 200 mg iron -gleptoferron in combination with 45 mg toltrazuril as a coccidiostaticum. The advantage of this combinatory product to address two different diseases by one single shot is counteracted by the lack of adjustment of the necessary amount of iron to prevent anaemia as long as possible. Different iron treatments in suckling piglets should be evaluated to review the traditional recommendations for iron applications and adjust them according to the higher genetic potential for growth in modern pig breeds if necessary.

Funding: Universität Danzig , 31.328 EUR

Project Details:
For these project dead found seals, stranded at the polish coast, will be collected.
Within the scope of this project the ITAW will conduct health investigations of the stranded seals.
In the course of these investigations ITAW researchers will perform pathological examinations of internal organs and analysis of reproductive organs. The species of parasites the marine mammals potentially are infected by will be identified. Their age will be estimated and histological, virological and microbiological analysis conducted. So health reports based on postmortem analysis for each investigated animal will be prepared.

Funding: Roland und Elfriede Schauer-Stiftung, 92.200 EUR

Project Details:
This project focuses on the identification and characterization of glycosylated helminth ligands (protein/lipid) of host C-type lectin receptors (CLRs), in particular Dectin-1, Dectin-2, CLEC12A and DC-SIGN. Further, we plan to investigate how the respective CLR/ligand interactions affect innate responses of host immune cells.

Funding: DZIF, BMBF, 65.000 EUR

Project Details:
In May 2022, an unprecedented multi-country outbreak of monkeypox affecting Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Australia was recognized. Monkeypox (MPX) is a re-emerging, zoonotic, and potentially life-threatening viral disease caused by monkeypox virus (MPXV), an orthopoxvirus endemic in Central and West Africa. As of June 28th 2022, a total of 4119 confirmed cases have been reported worldwide (ECDC), including 676 confirmed cases in Germany (RKI). This is the first time that chains of human-to-human MPXV transmission are documented without epidemiological links to West or Central Africa. At present, most cases are detected in young men, self-identifying as men who have sex with men, and associated with mild clinical symptoms. However, MPXV may cause severe disease in risk groups of the population (young children, pregnant women, immunosuppressed persons), and a spread of MPX into the general population is to be expected as most of the younger population (<50-60 years of age) lack virus specific immunity because of the end of smallpox vaccination programmes in the 1980ties. Thus there is a risk of an extended period of MPX circulating also outside of Africa, and ongoing efforts in the public health response must interrupt MPX transmission chains and clear MPXV from its new environment as soon as possible. Current countermeasures include the use of a licensed smallpox vaccine (IMVANEX) based on Modified Vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) and a licensed drug against smallpox (Tecovirimat). STIKO recommends vaccination with IMVANEX as post-exposure prophylaxis for contacts of MPX patients and for persons at high risk of exposure.
The aim of this application is to support this counteraction measures against the MPX outbreak by preparing for the development and clinical use of the DZIF MVA-SARS-2-S candidate vector vaccine as bivalent vaccine against MPX and COVID-19 including the establishment of a preclinical model for immunogenicity and efficacy testing.

Cooperation Partners:

Prof. Dr. Marylyn Addo, UKE Hamburg

Prof. Dr. Gerd Sutter, LMU München

Funding: BLE/ Unterauftrag FLI, 78.300 EUR

Project Details:
Pig production has grown dramatically worldwide over the last 20 years, leading to increased herd sizes
with weekly production cycles of piglets. In the meantime, the dynamics of infections with swine influenza A
viruses (swIAV) have changed, from epizootic acute respiratory
outbreaks to a self-sustaining infected status of affected herds. Moreover, the genetic and antigenic
diversity of swIAVs in European pig populations has dramatically increased in recent years. Thus, novel
reassortants and antigenic variants have emerged regionally, that can escape control strategies based on
vaccines licensed for use in Europe. The self-sustaining forms of swine influenza (SI) in large holdings
adversely affect animal health and welfare, and prompts the excessive use of antibiotics when swIAV is
associated with other respiratory pathogens in the porcine respiratory disease complex (PRDC), resulting in
severe economic losses. There is an urgent need to increase knowledge of within-herd virus dynamics and
evolution in order to design intervention and prevention measures to limit swIAV persistence in intensive
herds and counteract continuous production losses and emergence of new swIAVs.The objectives of the
research project PIGIE are:
- to define the epidemiological and economic factors that drive the prevalence and dynamics of swIAV in
large pig herds,
- to evaluate the impact that swIAV enzootic infections have on animal welfare, production parameters and
economic productivity,
- to study the genetic and antigenic diversity of swIAV in Europe,
- to identify the host-pathogen factors that would foster swIAV evolution,
- to provide a better understanding of long-lasting and protective immunological memory responses
developed in the infected hosts,
- to identify mitigation points in continuously infected herds,
- to implement and evaluate control strategies that would help to counter sustained infections in closed
intensive herds.

Cooperation Partners:

FLI, Riems

Funding: Frauenhofer ITEM, 331.375 EUR

Project Details:
Therapeutic treatment against SARS-CoV-2 with inhaled VHH from BiondVax - Efficacy Program in Hamsters

Funding: Verein für Bioökonomieforschung (FBF), 9.600 EUR

Project Details:
The FBF funded project "Influence of stress during rearing management and later eligibility in sperm production" revealed a clear difference in a developed management score and in mean testosterone concentrations between young bulls with good versus poor sperm quality. However, due to a lack of sensitivity, hormone measurements could not be used as adequate diagnostic tests to identify very good or bad bulls with regard to their later performance and performance persistence, neither at an age of four months nor later at the first semen collection.
This more in-depth study is designed to search for better biomarkers using proteomics as non-target approach. Bulls with a very good versus bad performance persistence over two years will be analyzed by mass spectrometry using the plasma samples collected close to the first semen collection during the preliminary project. Data sets of the mass spectrometric measurements with identified peptides will be matched with a bovine protein database to finally name proteins of the plasma samples. Both groups of bulls will be compared with respect to the proteins identified and the amounts of the same.
In order to establish test methods that are as practicable as possible, promising fertility-associated proteins will subsequently be measured in the blood samples from all age classes investigated during bull calf rearing using commercially available ELISA kits. These data will be used to establish reference ranges and thresholds using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses. Optimally, suitable biomarkers in the blood allow an early preselection of bull calves that are eligible for the collection of quantitatively and qualitatively good semen.

Cooperation Partners:

Institut für Toxikologie, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover

Funding: Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre, Projektförderung Freiraum, 144.160 EUR

Project Details:
Entomophagy has traditionally been practised in many regions and is now gaining popularity in Europe. Commercial production reduces the burden on wild populations, ensures safety and quality and generates new streams of income. However, like all other domesticated animals, insects reared in large quantities need oversight to ensure animal welfare and health. This does not happen yet.
The aim of this project is therefor to train students of veterinary and biological sciences to work in this field. As an elective module veterinary students learn how to care for and assess insect rearing, while students of biology learn to how to identify edible insect species. Students will raise their own insect charge and will become a potential advisor for farmers interested in commercial insect rearing.

Funding: DFG, 110.700 EUR

Project Details:
Tetraspanins are evolutionary conserved integral membrane proteins of 200-350 amino acid lengths. Through their large extracellular loop they mediate protein - protein and protein - lipid interactions in cellular membranes thereby shaping membrane microdomains called ‘tetraspanin webs’. In humans and mice 33 tetraspanins are described and mosquito species express at least 15 tetraspanin orthologs. In mammalian cells, tetraspanins are host co-factors for several viruses including papillomaviruses, influenza virus, hepatitis C virus, HIV-1 and coronaviruses (Gerold et al., 2015; Bruening et al. 2018; Banse et al., 2018; Alberione et al. 2020; Palor et al., 2020). For hepatitis C virus, colleagues and we showed that the tetraspanin CD81 is a host range determining factor (Vogt et al. 2013; Scull et al., 2015; von Schaewen et al., 2016).
The proposed project aims at characterizing in detail, which of the 33 human tetraspanins in addition to CD81 are host factors for alphaviruses and whether tetraspanins from reservoir species, dead end host species and transmitting mosquito vectors serve as host factors of alphaviruses. Thereby the work will contribute to the understanding of the molecular composition and function of alphavirus replication complexes and determine the role of tetraspanins in species range, transmission and consequently emergence of alphaviruses.