Research

Funding: QS-Wissenschaftsfonds, 28.229 EUR

Project Details:
The core of the research project is to answer important questions regarding the spatiotemporal impact of restrictions due to the Covid 19 pandemic on the value chain of poultry meat production. Data from primary production, structural analyses as well as data on slaughter findings, reported zoonoses in the German population and restrictions due to the pandemic will be linked to derive significances and correlations. From this, important propositions are generated, which address and evaluate the resilience to massive interventions of the integrated process chains in global world trade.

In particular, the project will demonstrate whether the reduction in reported Campylobacter enteritis in the population during the pandemic was due to changes in the occurrence of the pathogen in primary production, process flows in slaughterhouses, changes in consumer behavior, or other factors. The restrictions of the Covid 19 pandemic are included in the synthesis of the results.

Funding: Industry (Veterinary pharmaceuticals/Vaccines), 567.421 EUR

Project Details:
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Funding: Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur, 49.500 EUR

Project Details:
Ergänzung der klassischen Lehre in Präsenz durch die Entwicklung digitaler, jederzeit verfügbarer Inhalte.

Funding: DFG, 117.450 EUR

Project Details:
Das West Nile Virus (WNV) ist eine in allen Regionen der Welt verbreitete Zoonose und wird durch verschiedene Stechmückenarten auf wild lebende Vögel übertragen. Es kann sich aber auch auf Menschen und Pferde ausweiten, wobei es neben meist asymptomatisch Verläufen bei etwa 20 - 30 % der Erkrankten zu grippeähnlichen Symptomen ("West-Nil-Fieber") und in 1-2 % der Fällen sogar zur Ausbildung einer schweren, neuroinvasiven Form mit meist fatalem Ausgang kommt. Ältere Individuen haben ein höheres Risiko, eine solche neuroinvasive Form zu entwickeln.
Im Jahr 2018 konnte das West Nil Virus in Deutschland neben Pferden und Vögeln auch erstmalig beim Menschen diagnostiziert werden und wurde 2019 bei 5 Personen als Krankheitsursache bestätigt. Im Gegensatz zur Anwendung im Pferde gibt es noch keine für den Menschen zugelassene Impfung, weshalb jene Entwicklung von großer Bedeutung ist. In Anbetracht des erhöhten Risikos einer schweren Erkrankung bei älteren Individuen ist insbesondere für diese Gruppe ein Impfstoff von hohem Interesse. Dies wird dadurch erschwert, dass Impfungen in dieser Gruppe zu einer schwächer ausgeprägten und damit weniger effektiven Immunantwort führen können. Daher soll die Immunantwort älterer Mäuse auf den von uns entwickelten Impfstoff gegen das West-Nil-Virus charakterisiert werden, insbesondere in Hinblick auf die Entwicklung einer T-Zell-Immunität.
Ziel ist es, die WNV Pathogenese bei Tier und Mensch und die Impfstoff-induzierte Immunantwort im Hinblick auf schützende Korrelate besser zu verstehen, damit neue therapeutische und präventive Strategien entwickelt werden können.

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: Zentrales Innovationsprogramm Mittelstand (ZIM), 218.163 EUR

Project Details:
Entwicklung der Vorgaben und Grundlagen für Diagnosesoftware, Entwicklung von weiterführenden diagnostischen Empfehlungen, therapeutischen Konzepten und Therapieempfehlungen

Funding: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), 27.998 EUR

Project Details:
Antibiotic resistance is a growing public health problem worldwide and particular a challenge in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In order to combat antibiotic resistance, it is necessary to address this in line with the One Health approach.
The aim of the project is to develop a harmonized protocol for monitoring data on antibiotic resistance in an integrated One Health approach for humans, animals and the environment and to link the data from all three One Health areas directly with each other. Furthermore, the transmission pathways of antibiotic resistance or resistance genes are to be evaluated in order to be able to take measures against the transmission and development of resistance. Support for the development of international collaboration with cooperation partners from sub-Saharan Africa served to expand cooperation through on-site visits, discussions on currently used protocols and the identification of potential challenges.

Cooperation Partners:

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

- Department of Disease Control & Environmental Health, Makerere University School of Public Health, Kampala, Uganda

Funding: Ministerium für Energie­wende, Klimaschutz, Umwelt und Natur, 98.692 EUR

Project Details:
The two invasive fungi Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (hereafter referred to as Bd) and B. salamandrivorans (hereafter referred to as Bsal) originate from Asia. Bd is known to infect more than 700 species of amphibians of all three clades (caecilians, salamanders, frogs). A Bd infection can lead to clinical disease and ultimate death of affected animals. Clinical disease though, like the characteristic skin lesions, are not present in all cases. The so-called chytridiomycosis is therefore versatile and difficult to predict. Bsal was first discovered in Europe in the Netherlands in 2013, where the pathogen has been associated with a decline of more than 95% of the fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) population since 2010. Since then, outside of Asia, it was found in several European countries, including Germany. The overall aim of the project is to provide better knowledge of the actual distribution of both invasive fungi Bd and Bsal in Schleswig-Holstein over a period of two years. Therefore, different amphibian species sharing the same habitats in Schleswig-Holstein are targeted. Sampling uses sterile skin swabs, which represents an amphibian friendly method. Right after sampling, animals are released. Ideally, the outcome of this pilote study will give first ideas of regional, seasonal and species specific characteristics of the pathogens and will thus shape future research in this field.

The following questions will be addressed:
-Is there a direct link between the detection of Bd and Bsal and clinical symptoms or even an increased mortality?
-Which species typically show symptoms of clinical disease? Which species
are infected without symptoms (subclinically), function as asymptomatic carriers or as a reservoir?
-Are there regional differences in the prevalence of the pathogens?

Due to the critical situation of Schleswig-Holsteins amphibians, it is of utmost concern to apply management measures to protect amphibian populations of additional threats like infectious diseases. Additionally, the outcome of the project will therefore directly serve conservation efforts and help improve reintroduction efforts and management measures for amphibians.

Results:

Abschlussbericht an das Ministerium für Energiewende, Klimaschutz, Umwelt und Natur

https://www.tiho-hannover.de/fileadmin/57_79_terr_aqua_Wildtierforschung/79_Buesum/downloads/Berichte/2023_Amphibien_Abschlussbericht_MEKUN.pdf

Cooperation Partners:

Christoph Leineweber, Rachel Marschang (LABOKLIN GmbH)

97688 Bad Kissingen

Christian Winkler (Arbeitskreis Herpetofauna der FÖAG)

24582 Bordesholm

Patrick Pohlmann (Gesellschaft für Freilandökologie und Naturschutzplanung)

24145 Kiel Wellsee

Arne Drews (Landesamt für Landwirtschaft, Umwelt und ländliche Räume)

24220 Flintbeck

Funding: Brigitte und Wolfram Gedek - Stiftung, 40.000 EUR

Project Details:
Enteropathogenic Bacillus cereus are responsible for a diarrhoeal type of food poisoning. In earlier studies, we could show that milk inhibits the toxic activity of B. cereus enterotoxins towards human colon epithelial cells. At this, caseins as well as lactoferrin seem to hinder the interaction between the single toxin components. In this project, the influence of lactoferrin on growth and enterotoxin production of different B. cereus isolates is tested at first. Strain-specific differences are made visible, as well as the influence of different lactoferrins and their derivatives. The molecular mechanisms underlying the enhanced enterotoxin production after lactoferrin exposure are investigated via RNA sequencing. It is further tested which genes are up- or downregulated under iron deficiency and especially after lactoferrin contact. This gives an overview on the transcriptional changes in the organism. The second point is the detailed investigation of the inhibiting effect of lactoferrin towards the B. cereus enterotoxins in cell culture systems. For this, different commercially available lactoferrin products and derivatives will be tested, as well as their impact on different B. cereus toxins such as haemolysin BL, the non-haemolytic enterotoxin, cytotoxic K and the emetic toxin cereulide. Finally, the issue of lactoferrin-sensing and motility (chemotaxis) of selected B. cereus strains will be investigated. Next to the general ability of active movement, it will be tested if lactoferrin has a repelling or attracting effect on a certain isolate.

Funding: Fritz-Ahrberg-Stiftung, 40.000 EUR

Project Details:
Recent studies show that after processing pork and turkey meat frozen stored at -80°C for up to 48 weeks to raw sausages, red values of the sausages were higher and aw values lower compared to unfrozen or at -18°C frozen stored meat samples. These results suggest that when producing products from such frozen meat, the concentrations of cooking salt and nitrite salts might be reduced, as red values and aw values would change in the opposite sense when salts are reduced. However, a reduction of common salt and nitrite salts must be proportionate, as the shelf life and texture of the products could be changed. In the study, meat from beef, pork, chicken and turkey is therefore stored for 24 weeks at -18°C and -80°C and, after thawing, processed into raw and cooked sausages with reduced NaCl and nitrite concentrations. The meat products are analysed microbiologically, sensory and physicochemically during maturation and further storage in a protective gas atmosphere.