Research

Project Details:
Ein großer Teil kastrierter und unkastrierter Rüden leidet vor allem im fortgeschrittenen Alter an pathologischen Veränderungen der Prostata (Bsp.: Benigne Prostatahyperplasie, Prostatazysten, Prostataabszesse, Prostatitiden, Prostatatumore). Diese werden meist durch digitale rektale Untersuchung, Sonographie, Röntgen oder Computertomographie diagnostiziert. Aufgrund einzelner Limitationen der bisherigen diagnostischen Möglichkeiten wird die Diagnose eines Prostatakarzinoms bis heute häufig im fortgeschrittenen Stadium der Erkrankung gestellt, da bei Auftreten prostatatypischer Symptome bereits Metastasen in den sublumbalen Lymphknoten, dem axialen Skelett und der Lunge vorzufinden sind.
Ziel dieser Studie ist es die mp-MRT, die bereits beim Mann routinemäßig zur Früherkennung von Prostatatumoren angewendet wird, zur Prostatadiagnostik beim Rüden zu evaluieren. Begleitend soll die Konzentration der Caninen Prostataspezifischen Arginin-Esterase (CPSE) im Serum gemessen werden.

Funding: H. Wilhelm Schaumann Stiftung, 24.000 EUR

Project Details:
Ziel dieses Vorhabens ist es, den Einfluss einer diätetischen Phosphor (P)-Reduktion auf die intestinale Absorption von Phosphat (Pi) entlang der Darmachse bei wachsenden Ziegen zu erforschen. Zur Bestimmung der jeweiligen Anteile am Gesamt-Pi-Transport sollen gezielt die transzellulären bzw. die parazellulären Transportwege gehemmt und etwaige Abweichungen dieser Verhältnisse unter diätetischer P-Reduktion ermittelt werden. Durch molekularbiologische Charakterisierung soll untersucht werden, ob die intestinalen Expressionsmengen der am transzellulären bzw. parazellulären Pi-Transport beteiligten Proteine segmental verschieden sind und ob es unter diätetischer P-Restriktion zu einer molekularen Anpassung dieser Proteine im Dünndarmepithel kommt.
Zur Untersuchung des transzellulären Pi-Transports werden die Expressionsmengen der beteiligten Proteine (Natrium (Na)-abhängige Pi-Transporter Typ IIb (NaPi IIb (SLC34A2)) und Typ III (PiT1 (SLC20A1), PiT2 (SLC20A2)), Vitamin-D-Rezeptor (VDR), Natrium/Kalium-Adenosintriphosphatase (Na+/K+-ATPase)) und des möglicherweise an der basolateralen Ausschleusung beteiligten Proteins Xenotropic and polytropic retrovirus receptor 1 (XPR1) bestimmt. In gleicher Weise werden einige intra- und interzelluläre Proteine (Claudin-2, Claudin-12, Occludine, Zonula Occludens 1 (ZO1) -Proteine) untersucht, die möglicherweise am parazellulären Pi-Transport beteiligt sind. Die Untersuchung dreier verschiedener Dünndarmsegmente (Duodenum, Jejunum und Ileum) ermöglicht die Feststellung etwaiger lokaler Verschiebungen der Pi-Absorption während der diätetischen Modulation.

Results:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33467106/

Project Details:
Anhand von zwei Fragebögen soll das Wissen über das Vorgehen von nationalen und internationalen Katzenzüchtern zu Kontrazeption und Zucht näher erfaßt werden.Die Zielgruppe sind Katzenzüchter. Die Datenerhebung erfolgt anonym, die Auswertung der Daten kann mit Hilfe des in der Software enthaltenden Auswerttools erfolgen.
Die Untersuchungen sollen zum besseren Verständnis von Tierärzten und Katzenzüchtern beitragen

Results:

https://elib.tiho-hannover.de/receive/tiho_mods_00006292

Project Details:
As part of this project, a computer model of the canine hind limbs is being developed on the basis of CT and MRT data. In addition to bony structures, this model should also map muscle and ligament structures in order to subsequently be able to simulate movements of the canine hind limbs.

Results:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rvsc.2021.03.015

Project Details:
Motile sperm with intact membranes can suffer from functional damage which remains undetected by routine semen analysis. For assessment of novel semen preservation methods, sensitive diagnostic of fertility-relevant functional sperm traits is neccessary. The aim is to establish novel diagnostic tools which allow the sensitive assessment of sublethal damage of preserved spermatozoa.

Results:

DOI: 10.1002/cyto.a.24301

Cooperation Partners:

Dr. Heiko Henning, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut Mariensee

Funding: Epilepsy Foundation, 200.000 EUR

Project Details:
Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a genetic disease, which leads to elevated PI3K/mTOR signaling and causes development of tumors in different organs as well as epileptic seizures, developmental delay, and autism. Therapy is limited to often ineffective anti-seizure drugs (ASDs), surgery, and rapalogs (everolimus), the first generation mTOR inhibitors. Recently, everolimus has been approved for treatment of ASD-refractory partial-onset seizures in patients with TSC. However, this therapy is associated with severe adverse events, including immunosuppression. We have developed novel, ATP-competitive, specific, brain penetrant mTOR and PI3K/mTOR inhibitors, which have a much better safety profile; particularly these compounds lack immunosuppressive activity.

Cooperation Partners:

PIQUR, Basel, Schweiz

Funding: DFG, 333.650 EUR

Project Details:
Die Infektion mit dem Theilerschen murinen Enzephalomyelitisvirus (TMEV) stellt ein anerkanntes Modell zur Erforschung viraler Enzephalitiden und degenerativer Prozesse bedingt durch neurotrope Viren dar. Antigen-präsentierende Zellen (APZ) werden hierbei maßgeblich für Neuronenschäden im Hippocampus von infizierten C57BL/6-Mäusen verantwortlich gemacht. Aktivierende und inhibierende C-Typ Lektinrezeptoren (CLRs) auf APZ wirken an der Pathogenerkennung mit und tragen daher essentiell zur Immunhomöostase bei verschiedenen Infektionskrankheiten bei. Die Bedeutung von CLRs in der Neuropathogenese der TME ist bislang allerdings unklar. Basierend auf der Hypothese, dass eine Dysregulation der CLR-Aktivierung für die Immunpathologie im Gehirn und Neurodegeneration verantwortlich ist, soll in dem geplanten Projekt die Bedeutung von CLRs bei der TMEV-Infektion untersucht werden.

Funding: DFG, 352.662 EUR

Project Details:
Binaural coincidence detection relies on the precise excitation-inhibition interaction in neurons of the medial superior olive (MSO). This precision is achieved through alterations during late postnatal development, a period marked by the establishment of prominent structure-function relationships in the auditory system. How excitatory inputs to MSO neurons refine during late postnatal development is unknown. In this proposal, we plan to mechanistically investigate these processes, through quantification of the developmental changes of excitatory currents and the morphology of axonal input patterns. To unravel what drives these changes we will perform these experiments in gerbils raised in omnidirectional white noise, which suppresses relevant sensory spatial cues. Conversely, the impact of sound-evoked activity will be eliminated using cochlear ablations. Applying both forms of sensory manipulation will allow us to distinguish whether sound evoked activity or the experience of spatial cues is crucial for functionally important circuit refinements in the MSO. Thus, our study will provide a quantitative insight into mechanisms that drive the development of synaptic excitation at an ultrafast coincidence detector neuron important for sound source localization.

Results:

Kladisios N, Wicke KD, Pätz-Warncke C, Felmy F.: Species-Specific Adaptation for Ongoing High-Frequency Action Potential Generation in MNTB Neurons. Journal of Neuroscience 2023 Vol 43:2714-2729

Pätz C., Console-Meyer L., Felmy F.: Structural arrangement of auditory brainstem nuclei in the bats Phyllostomus discolor and Carollia perspicillata. Journal of Comp Neurology, 2022, Vol. 530, 2762-2781; IF: 3.028

 

Siveke I, Myoga MH, Grothe B, Felmy F.: Ambient noise exposure induces long-term adaptations in adult brainstem neurons. Scientific Reports 2021 Mar 4; 11:5139.

 

Franzen D.L., Gleiss S.A., Kellner C.J, Kladisios N., Felmy F.: Activity-dependent calcium signaling in neurons of the medial superior olive during late postnatal development. Journal of Neuroscience, 2020, Vol. 40(8):1689-1700

Funding: BfN, 549.313 EUR

Project Details:
The implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EG, MSFD) aims to achieve a good environmental status (GES) of the European oceans until 2020. The MSFD obliges all European coastal states to effectuate the development and execution of national marine strategies. It sets a tight time schedule for the accomplishment of several obligations, like the results of the status assessments of the German North and Baltic Seas, which have to be reported to the European Commission regularly, the determination of the GES of the German marine areas and the determination of environmental targets. In the context of this range of tasks, the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research shall support the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) scientifically, in order to perform the existing reporting duties and actions timely and with professional quality. Approaches to the evaluation of the biodiversity status within the MSFD will be compiled on international, national and regional levels, refined and different approaches will be harmonised.

They will be processed nationally as well as internationally in different committees and working groups (for example in the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)) and debated within regional marine protection treaties (Oslo and Paris Commission (OSPAR) and Helsinki Commission (HELCOM)). The cooperation regarding the MSFD and partially the Council Directive on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora will be organised within the framework of BLANO in Germany. Currently, the assessments (for example scientific indicators) are being compiled and modulated in the different working groups. A continuous cooperation is necessary in the various working groups, in order to guarantee a sufficient incorporation of German research results and indicator concepts on international level. This is enabled within the framework of this project.
The ITAW has developed and implemented extensive research proposals and monitoring drafts with a focus on marine mammals for Germany in the past, with the result that long-term data and basics are available for indicator configuration at the ITAW. These shall be included in this process. The existing results provided by the ITAW, scientific analyses and considerations on the indicator configuration shall contribute to the international process, because the indicator development also presents an important tool for future monitoring research projects. Furthermore, it is also necessary from the scientific point of view to reconcile and effectuate the implementation and validation of indicators as well as monitoring efficiency on international level, because marine mammals are such highly mobile species.

Results:

https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.795953

Project Details:
The base of the project is the identification of a specific need in high-quality research training in marine sciences including the study of a broad variety of marine organisms at the European level. In spite of being evolutionary distant from Humans, marine species can bring fundamental knowledge that can be transferable to understand molecular and cellular processes governing several aspects of human biology. In addition, marine organisms constitute an important source of biomolecules with putative industrial and therapeutic applications making the development of marine resource a key area in the field of blue economy and blue growth. Considering the above-described contect, the present strategic partnership will develop a thourough research training focused on the use of marine organisms in several life science disciplines such as neurobiology, cell morphogenesis/cell biology, tissue regeneration, evolution/life cycle and marine biotechnology.

Cooperation Partners:

Prof. Dr Agnes Boutet (Sorbonne, Frankreich),

Prof. Dr. Stefano Piraino, Neapel