Overview of research projects

Funding: DBU, CULT-Stiftung, 81.550 EUR

Project Details:
This project serves the long-term purpose of protecting the species of the yellow-bellied toad, Bombina variegata, which is highly endangered in Germany and Central Europe. In many areas, the yellow-bellied toad only occurs in secondary, i.e. anthropogenically modified, habitats such as quarries. The populations are often isolated, too small, and suffer from inbreeding and genetic impoverishment. Previous studies have also shown that yellow-bellied toads use different life cycle strategies in different habitats. These differences suggest that the species has adapted to local ecological conditions, and these adaptations are potentially manifested in the genome. The project aims to improve the genetic and ecological information available about the species in order to make practical conservation more effective. For this purpose, DNA samples from German, French and Swiss yellow-bellied toad populations, which have already been sampled in previous projects, are examined using genomic methods (RADSeq). In addition, toads in Germany will be sampled in the few natural habitats where they still occur. The genomic results are then correlated with ecological data (habitat type, local climate). The results provide evidence as to whether yellow-bellied toads are adapted to their local habitat (anthropogenic vs. natural) or to their local climate at the molecular level. The aim is to identify specific candidate genes that mediate this local adaptation. Furthermore, species distribution models based on climatic data should show where suitable habitats are for the yellow-bellied toad today and in the future - also with a view on climate change. The results obtained will be discussed with scientists and species protection specialists in a workshop. In follow-up projects, so-called genetic rescue will be used for small, isolated occurrences to stabilize them, and larger populations will be genetically upgraded. Genetic rescue projects based on genomic information are innovative since so far they have been successfully implemented in species protection in only a few countries.

Cooperation Partners:

Prof. Jean-Paul Léna, Dr. Hugo Cayuela, Benjamin Monod-Broca, University of Lyon;

Dr. Mirjam Nadjafzadeh, NABU Niedersachsen; Fabian Droppelmann, Chance 7

Project Details:
Equine tendon and ligament lesions are known to have an utmost unsatisfactory healing potential if they are located within synovial structures such as tendon sheaths and bursae. Potential causes have only been sparsely described. In addition to surgical debridement of altered tendon tissue as part of a tenoscopy or bursoscopy, adjunctive medical and regenerative therapy have been described. The aim of the project is to investigate the effect of the mentioned therapeutic strategies in a controlled manner and to identify factors that contribute to improved healing of intrasynovial tendon damage.

Cooperation Partners:

Andrea Noguera-Cender, PhD, Hanseklinik für Pferde, Sittensen

Project Details:
Nanotechnology is a fast-moving area that finds applications in such diverse areas as material science, electronic engineering, consumer goods production, medicine, and agriculture. A recent innovation in the field is the use of plant extracts in nanoparticle synthesis. Due to the involvement of auxiliar natural substances, this so called "green nanotechnology" aims for environmentally beneficial and more biocompatible nanoparticles free from hazardous substances. Copper nanoparticles (CuNPs), synthesized using green methods, have been particularly noted for their potent insecticidal activity. On the other hand, there is a growing public awareness about the toxic potential for humans associated with nanoparticles applied to the environment. The small size of nanoparticles poses the risk of permeating the protective blood brain barrier into the nervous system, even by inhalation through the nose. The nervous system, and in particular the developing central nervous system is more sensitive to damage than other organs. Whereas developmental neurotoxicological testing usually employs large numbers of mammalian experimental animals, basic mechanisms can be studied in cell culture, or insect embryonic tissue culture.
The purpose of the project is the development of a joint multidisciplinary approach to study potential adverse effects of green-engineered nanoparticles on the developing nervous system. On the biological side, using neuronal precursor cells and/or embryonic insect nervous tissue, the effect of nanoparticles can be tested on neurotoxicological endpoints such as cell differentiation, neurotransmitter content, cell migration, neurite outgrowth, and growth cone navigation. On the material science side, modification of the production process enables to test effects influenced by nanoparticle size, biochemical modification, or effectivity of uptake.
The objective of this collaboration is to define a specific project in which the strengths of both partners, development of green-engineered nanoparticles in South Africa, and developmental neurotoxicology in Germany, are combined to gain deeper knowledge about the interaction of these new materials with living cells, connecting the distinct fields of human and environmental nanotoxicology.

Results:

Stern M, Botha N, Cloete KJ, Maaza M, Tan S, Bicker G (2024) Neurotoxicity and developmental neurotoxicity of copper sulfide nanoparticles on a human neuronal in vitro test system. Int J Mol Sci 25 (11): 5650. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25115650

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25115650

Cooperation Partners:

Dr. Karen Jacqueline Cloete, University of South Africa/iThemba Laboratory for Accelerator Based Sciences - National Research Foundation: Somerset West, Western Cape, South Africa

Funding: European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) , 275.552 EUR

Project Details:
Incidental bycatch represents a significant threat to marine species worldwide, particularly for Endangered, Threatened and Protected (ETP) species, which include marine mammals, birds, turtles and elasmobranchs. To date, efforts to minimize the bycatch of ETPs have had limited success. LIFE CIBBRiNA is a cross-border and cross-sectoral project in which research institutions, environmental authorities, fishing industry and non-governmental organizations from 13 European countries collaborate to reduce the incidental bycatch in fisheries that have a high risk of bycatch of ETPs in the North Sea, Baltic Sea, and Mediterranean Sea. The objective is to develop new bycatch mitigation methods and to promote their implementation. As part of LIFE CIBBRiNA, the ITAW will develop tools for monitoring and collection of bycatch data. The incidence of bycatch will be assessed through pathological investigations of casualty animals. Carcass drifting models will allow the identification of bycatch hotspots, and a database will be developed to collate strandings data and to enable a temporospatial analysis of the information. Furthermore, the ITAW is engaged in the dissemination of project outcomes to relevant stakeholders (including the development of research boxes as didactic material for schools), networking with other projects and publishing the scientific results of LIFE CIBBRiNA.

Funding: Nds. Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur über Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, 1.811.726 EUR

Project Details:
This initial project within the ZERN research and transfer network is dealing with the future-oriented keeping and use of fattening pigs. There are deficits in current fattening pig husbandry, particularly in the areas of animal welfare, emissions and nutrient efficiency. This project has therefore set the objective of scientifically evaluating relevant aspects of sustainable pork production synergistically and gaining new, practice-relevant knowledge.

Cooperation Partners:

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

Deutsches Institut für Lebensmitteltechnik (DIL)

Funding: Nds. Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur über Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, 1.496.374 EUR

Project Details:
ZERN is a research network of the University of Göttingen, the University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover and the German Institute of Food Technologies in Quakenbrück, which aims to support the transformation of the agricultural and food system in Lower Saxony, which is under increasing pressure to adapt. Aspects such as animal welfare and sustainability must be given greater consideration in agricultural production in the future. The findings from the research network should enable the sustainable production, processing and marketing of food.

Cooperation Partners:

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

Deutsches Institut für Lebensmitteltechnik (DIL)

Project Details:
Stable and consistent individual behavioral variations in animals that are generally regarded as an expression of animal personalities, and might be important drivers of ecological specialization and the evolutionary adaptive potential of species. We aim to investigate various proximate factors driving individual variations in risk-taking behavior of the grey mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus) as well as their relationship and explanatory value for physical cognitive performance. In the wild, this species lives under a very high predation pressure and risk taking decisions must therefore be taken on a daily basis and should be an important key to survival. We will study captive grey mouse lemurs with a longitudinal approach to investigate systematically the individual behavioral dynamics across time and different risk contexts. In a second step, personality differences will then be compared with the results from a test battery in the physical cognitive domain. Our findings will contribute to a better understanding of risk taking as one facet of animal personality in one of the world?s smallest primates.

Project Details:
Forschung und Zielsetzung

Die deutsche Nordseeküste als Teil des "UNESCO Weltnaturerbe Wattenmeer" ist ein weltweit einmaliger mariner Lebensraum mit einer bisher weitgehend unbekannten Biodiversität. Aufgrund seiner besonderen Eigenschaften (z.B. hinsichtlich Gezeiten und klimatischen Bedingungen) stellt dieser Lebensraum eine besondere Herausforderung für eine Vielzahl von Organismen dar und die besonderen und diversen ökologischen Nischen im Bereich der deutschen Nordseeküste versprechen das Vorkommen von endemischen Arten und vielen bisher noch unbeschriebenen Organismengruppen. Dieser einmalige Lebensraum ist jedoch permanent durch anthropogene Einflüsse bedroht, und speziell die Auswirkungen der globalen Erderwärmung und der zunehmenden Versauerung der Meere stellen eine existenzielle Bedrohung für viele marine Organismen dar.
Dies ist weltweit das erste Mal, dass ein bedeutender Lebensraum über 25 Jahre in Folge kontinuierlich, umfassend und vergleichend quantitativ in seiner Biodiversitätsdynamik beschrieben wird und zwar in Bezug auf ein Vierteljahrhundert globaler Veränderungen.
Wir schaffen Daten statt Spekulationen.

Arbeitsmethoden
Field work, Envrironmental Genomics, Metagenomics, Bioinformatics

Cooperation Partners:

Dr Helen Spence-Jones (she/her)

Postdoctoral Researcher

Coastal Ecology/Ökologie der Küsten

Alfred-Wegener-Institut

Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research

Wadden Sea Station

25992 List auf Sylt, Deutschland

Dr. Michael Tessler

AMNH New York

Funding: DFG, 45.000 EUR

Project Details:
Glycoprotein-mediated immune evasion mechanisms of human and animal pneumoviridea

Funding: DFG, 45.000 EUR

Project Details:
Role of adipose tissue as a silent reservoir for respiratory virus replication