Research

Funding: QS-Wissenschaftsfonds, 29.830 EUR

Project Details:
Infectious diseases pose a serious threat to animal health. There are only two legally required vaccinations in the livestock poultry sector in Germany (Newcastle disease and zoonotic salmonella). In the EU, vaccination against avian influenza was prohibited for many years, as the disease could be controlled by biosecurity and eradication measures. A new legal regulation (VO/EU 2023/361) allows vaccination to be used as part of the control measures. In order to rule out the risks of vaccination, it must be accompanied by close monitoring. According to current data, this will be very costly and may have to be borne proportionately by the livestock owner. In addition to the reduction in animal suffering, a further impact factor is the emotional consequences for the people involved in animal husbandry and care in the event of a complete depopulation of livestock in the event of an animal epidemic. Against this background, our project aims to assess the practical feasibility of vaccination against HPAI in livestock poultry farming. The aim is to record what wishes farmers have regarding the possible implementation of vaccination against HPAI, under what circumstances this can/should happen, what they need for implementation, what support they expect from veterinary medicine and the authorities.The task of this study is therefore to determine, through quantitative and qualitative empirical analyses, which measures are particularly effective against classical avian influenza. What are the prerequisites for successful implementation by the farmers?

Funding: Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of the Netherlands, 174.600 EUR

Project Details:
Pinnipeds are frequently infected with respiratory nematodes commonly referred to as lungworms. Distinctively, lungworms are particularly prevalent pathogens of young harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) in Northern Europe. In the Netherlands, young harbour seals frequently strand on human accessible areas and display severe clinical symptoms associated with lungworm infection; as a result, they are often admitted to the nearest rehabilitation centre for treatment. Currently, the number of lungworm patients admitted for rehabilitation is limited for conservation purposes, however, there is a lack of clear criteria regarding the selection of those lungworm patients that should receive care. Critically, there remains an absence of clinical parameters that directly indicate the disease progression; thus veterinarians lack the clinical tools to determine the severity of the infection, and consequently, the likelihood of survival. Furthermore, there is currently insufficient data regarding the fate of rehabilitated lungworm patients post release. Therefore, to prevent potentially unnecessary admissions of lungworm patients, further insights regarding the severity of infection and post-release survival rates are required.

This research project will employ a multiple strategy approach with the overarching aim to develop a triage system for seal rehabilitation centres to assess prognosis for seals either directly at the point of stranding or upon admission. Through comprehensive investigations, this project will provide unprecedented insights into the pathology of lungworm-infected harbour seals, identify clinical parameters associated with survival to and after release, as well as assess the behaviour and survival of seals post release from rehabilitation using telemetry devices. Ultimately, if applicable, this project will result in the development of a prognostic tool to guide the selection of lungworm-infected harbour seals most suitable for rehabilitation. This project, led by the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research (ITAW) in collaboration with three major Dutch seal rehabilitation centres (Aseal Stellendam, Sealcentre Pieterburen and Ecomare), as well as Utrecht University and Wageningen Marine Research, is funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of the Netherlands.

Funding: Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre, 339.015 EUR

Project Details:
Gaining knowledge about the anatomy and physiology of the forestomaches of ruminants is an important part of veterinary education. This sets the basis for proper diagnosis of diseases and surgical interventions on this organ system in their future professional practice. During their preclinical study part at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation (TiHo), all veterinary students attend certain anatomical and physiological practical courses related to this topic. These courses also include the work with living animals, hence defined as animal experiments. However, the goal of thorough and sustainable veterinary training, conflicts with the raising legal and public pressure to reduce the number of animal experiments and desired improvement of animal welfare. This project aims to develop a virtual anatomical model of the ruminant forestomaches to be implemented into the Virtual Learning Lab of the Clinical Skills Lab (CSL). This virtual resource can be accessed by all students online at any time, providing flexible learning opportunities. According to the 2022 teaching report, students rated the opportunities for deepening their knowledge at the CSL very positively and expressed a desire for additional offerings that allow for independent and needs-based learning of practical, job-relevant skills. Therefore, a second aim of this project is the development of a malleable 3D model of the rumen, simulating its motility and allows for manual palpation of the organ. Simulations play an important role in medical education and are assessed as very useful by the students when linked to practical relevance. The planned project ranges within the framework of the 3Rs concept for animal experiments providing both, a refinement and a reduction method. Using the simulator, students can learn how to palpate the rumen before they do it on a living animal during the practical course. This helps to reduce anxiety and leads to a more skilled and animal-friendly handling. The virtual forestomach model offers the opportunity for independent preparatory learning and thus contributes to reduce the number of animals used in the anatomical practical courses. During the clinical study phase, both models can be used for repetition of anatomical and physiological basics to support final exam preparation and the acquisition of clinical and surgical skills. Therefore, both models can be used across semesters, promoting the development of learning- and career-related skills and competences.

Project Details:
The monitoring and evaluation of emotions in animals is of increasing interest due to the public awareness on anima, welfare but also because laboratory animals serve as model species for the development of psychological drugs. The reliable evaluation of emotions is still a scientific challenge, as emotions are not only the result of automatic physiological reactions, but also underline cognitive evaluation processes (Kalat & Shiota, 2007). Thus, the emotional perception of a situation can depend on individual personality or experience. In order to be able to assess animal welfare, it is important to develop reliable methods for recording the emotional state of an animal. Although it is possible to determine an animal's condition using physiological measurements (e.g. blood sampling, implants to measure the heart rate), these measures are invasive and do not provide any information about the emotional valence of the condition (an increased heart rate occurs with both negative and positive emotions). An alternative is offered by behavioural tests that can be used to test the personality of animals as well as the emotional cognitive evaluation of a situation. One way of testing cognitive judgement is the ‘Judgement Bias Task’. The animal learns to distinguish between a positive and a less positive stimulus and to react accordingly. They are then presented with an unknown ambivalent stimulus. Their reaction makes it possible to assess whether an animal is ‘optimistic’ (selects as with a positive stimulus) or ‘pessimistic’ (selects as with a positive stimulus). These findings will allow a better assessment of emotions in animals and can later be used to investigate the impact of different housing conditions, environmental enrichment or pharmacological effects on an animal's emotions.

Funding: H. Wilhelm Schaumann Stiftung, 57.600 EUR

Project Details:
Enterococcus cecorum (EC) is an increasingly relevant bacterial pathogen in broiler chickens, and the disease is globally widespread. Affected birds typically exhibit lameness in the second half of the production cycle due to inflammation of the thoracic vertebrae and hip joints. Mortality rates can exceed 10%, and culling rates and medication use increase significantly. EC infections are considered a major cause of the high frequency of antimicrobial treatments in broiler production. Additionally, they represent a significant animal welfare issue, as bone inflammations are highly likely to cause severe pain.

Management practices such as antibiotic therapies or prophylactic use can be problematic, as they promote resistance and contradict antibiotic stewardship principles. Therefore, alternative strategies are urgently needed, including vaccination programs, breeding approaches, management measures in parent stock farms and hatcheries, as well as the use of feed additives. However, scientific evidence confirming the effectiveness of these methods is still lacking.

Studies show that EC can survive in the environment for at least six months and can still be detected in certain areas of poultry house equipment even after cleaning and disinfection. Since only a subset of strains is pathogenic, targeted decontamination of parent stock farms, hatcheries, and broiler facilities could help contain the spread of the pathogen. Effective cleaning and disinfection are essential. In practice, disinfectants such as aldehydes, quaternary ammonium compounds, cresols, oxidative agents, and organic acids are commonly used. Physical methods such as UV irradiation or ozone fumigation are also applied. The effectiveness of these measures depends on factors such as the correct concentration of active substances, application technique, removal of organic residues, and structural conditions of the facility. Deficiencies in these areas can lead to pathogen persistence and subsequent infections.

For other Enterococcus species, reduced sensitivity to chemical disinfectants has been reported for certain strains. However, no corresponding data are currently available for EC. Clinical isolates of Enterococcus faecium from hospitals have also shown decreasing sensitivity to alcohol-based disinfectants.
Research Objectives:

-Investigation of EC sensitivity to various biocides
-Analysis of the effectiveness of UV irradiation as a physical disinfection method

The findings from this study aim to optimize disinfection strategies in poultry farming, reduce antibiotic use, and thereby improve both animal health and welfare.

Funding: Fritz-Ahrberg-Stiftung, 100.000 EUR

Project Details:
The protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii is the causative agent of toxoplasmosis, a zoonosis that can be transmitted to humans by infected cats or through the consumption of contaminated foodstuffs or inadequately heated meat from infected intermediate hosts. Primary infections during the early stages of pregnancy are of particular concern due to the absence of maternal immunity, which allows the pathogen to cause severe foetal damage and abortions. There is currently no comprehensive and systematic monitoring of the pathogen in the food chain in Germany. Moreover, the accessibility of the pertinent testing methodologies is constrained. The project therefore aims to develop a rapid, field-proven detection method based on the loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) technique and to corroborate its validity for pertinent food matrices. Thereafter, the method will be employed to appraise the impact of diverse manufacturing techniques employed on sample products on the pathogen load, and to extrapolate recommendations for industrial manufacturing processes.

Project Details:
The aim of this work is to develop a practical microfluidic chip sperm selection method for large-volume (10-20 ml) initial samples of diluted stallion semen. This method is intended to replace semen preparation by centrifugation and increase fertilisation rates after insemination.

Cooperation Partners:

Niedersächsisches Landgestüt Celle

Funding: Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz, 172.697 EUR

Project Details:
The aim of the project is to classify and evaluate the practical possibility of animal-friendly catching and loading of laying hens from an animal welfare perspective, taking into account aspects of workload and economics. In project part 1, it is planned to monitor the catching of old hens from 20 commercial farms. Since white-feathered hens are often much more active and restless than brown-feathered animals, the catching and crating of both white- and brown-feathered flocks will be documented. In order to obtain reliable data, the catching of 10 flocks per genetic line will be monitored, with 6,000 animals per flock to be caught in an animal-friendly manner. The remaining animals in each flock are removed in the usual manner. In addition to the basic data on the participating flocks, the duration of loading, individual crates (average) and individual animals (differentiated according to the average time for both catching methods) are to be documented during the catching process. Animal behaviour will be recorded in the crates, e.g. on the basis of vocalisation and exemplary behavioural observations (including panting). The findings at the slaughterhouse will be used to assess the effect of the catching method on possible damage to the animals. The workload and costs of animal-friendly catching and loading will also be recorded and evaluated.
In order to obtain reliable data on the possible stress caused by capture, sub-project 2 plans to quantitatively assess stress under experimental conditions for both capture methods (upright versus hanging overhead with fixation to the legs) by measuring corticosterone metabolites in faeces.

Cooperation Partners:

Universität Osnarbrück

Funding: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)/PTJ Jülich, 165.805 EUR

Project Details:
In phase II of CREATE the subproject of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, aims at the identification and the establishment of health indicators for native marine mammal species in order to be able to assess the impacts of increasing anthropogenic activities on marine mammals and the marine ecosystem and to be able to detect them at an early stage. For this purpose, health data is analysed from about three decades, as well as data gained during the project, of native marine mammals from the German North Sea and Baltic Sea. The Knowledge gained in phase I on the spatial and temporal occurrence of bacteria and viruses will be used for more extensive investigations in phase II. The aim is to investigate a possible interaction between the occurrence of pathogenic bacteria and viruses and other infections, such as bacterial/viral co-infections or parasite infestation. It will also be analysed to what extent there is a connection between the determined causes of illness and death and the occurrence of certain pathogens. In this context, factors that are relevant to the population as a whole are of particular interest. The chronology of the data can be used to assess whether there have been changes in the burden on marine mammals over the last 30 years. Finally, the analysed data will be evaluated for their suitability for indicators, especially with regard to anthropogenic effects on marine mammal populations. The identification of such indicators would enable long-term monitoring strategies, promote the development of effective management measures and also feed into international agreements such as HELCOM and OSPAR. In addition, the data developed in the project will be used to create various Knowledge formats for stakeholders and thus communicate the here gained findings to the general public.

Cooperation Partners:

Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven inklusive Helmholtz-Institut für Funktionelle Marine Biodiversität an der Universität Oldenburg

Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg

Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Kiel

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Leibniz-Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde

Max-Planck-Institut für Marine Mikrobiologie, Bremen

Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung

Leibniz-Zentrum f. Mar. Tropenforschung Bremen

Funding: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung über Projektträger Jülich/Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Rostock, 443.773 EUR

Project Details:
The habitat of marine mammals is strongly characterised by anthropogenic use in the North and Baltic Seas. Marine mammals are sensitive to Stressors such as maritime traffic, offshore wind energy development, pollution and fishing. These activities can lead to habitat degradation for marine mammals, as habitat loss or fragmentation often occurs.
The interdisciplinary and cross-scale end-to-end (E2E) modelling System developed in the first phase of CoastalFutures will be extended in phase II to model the occurrence of marine mammals under different future scenarios. This novel tool now offers the possibility to analyse the effects of climate change and anthropogenic activities on indicator species by generating a virtual environment. For the first time, simulations on the effectiveness of various management measures for the protection and Conservation of marine mammal populations can be carried out in phase II, thus providing Knowledge for action for the implementation of political decisions. The impact of underwater noise on harbour seals as a result of the expansion of offshore wind farms (OWFs) is estimated at population level using a multifactorial assessment. Animal movement models are extended to include aspects of animal physiology so that effects on the energy budget can be integrated, while the effects of other Stressors and management measures are also considered, taking future climate conditions into account. In addition, potential impacts, such as the role of OWFs as artificial reefs and noise impacts on marine mammals, will be analysed and assessed to explore negative and positive effects. This in turn leads to a quantitative assessment of the food and habitat base for marine mammals and the exposure to Stressors in the marine protected areas.

Cooperation Partners:

-Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, Institute of Coastal Systems - Analysis and Modeling

-Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research, Warnemünde

-Technische Universität Braunschweig, Leichtweiß-Institute for Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources

-Thünen-Institut (TI für Seefischerei, TI für Ostseefischerei)

-Leibniz Universität Hannover, Ludwig-Franzius-Institut

-Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven

-Technische Universität Hamburg, Institute of River and Coastal Engineering

Assoziierte Partner:

-Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie

-Deutscher Wetterdienst

-Bundesanstalt für Wasserbau

- Bundesamt für Naturschutz