Overview of research projects

Funding: BMLEH, FNR, 587.567 EUR

Project Details:
The project is carried out on DIL e.V., Quakenbrück.
The "pfloeZ"" project aims to further improve the environmental performance of agriculture. In organic farming, resource conservation and environmental compatibility are top priorities. Crop production and animal husbandry are closely interlinked. The nutrients required for fertilizing crops come mainly from animal husbandry and can be applied to the fields, which are usually adjacent. The purchase of feed and the use of mineral fertilizers are largely avoided. The problem to date has been that in areas with intensive animal husbandry, nutrients have been washed into surface waters and groundwater, causing pollution. Biochar could limit this problem for all forms of agriculture (organic and conventional). The use of pure biochar in crop production returns carbon to the cycle, but depending on the starting substrate for carbonization, valuable nutrients are bound (too) long-term. To resolve this conflict, biochar produced from C-rich, otherwise nutrient-poor raw materials should be used in a closed nutrient cycle utilizing animal husbandry. Biochar can promote animal health as a component of feed, is then excreted and can thus be applied to the fields for crop production in a nutrient-rich, homogeneous form with no loss - or the biochar can be used directly as an additive to livestock excrement (such as manure), and then spread on the fields loaded with nutrients to reduce the amount of undirected nutrient runoff into the environment. In this way, biochar helps to maintain and promote healthy soil microflora and provides nutrients in controlled doses. The ""pfloeZ"" project provides the basis for more environmentally friendly agriculture, which is a significant carbon sink and at the same time closes nutrient cycles as tightly as possible with minimal losses."

Funding: BMLEH, 355.080 EUR

Project Details:
In pig breeding, the continuous use of antibiotics in liquid-preserved semen for artificial insemination is increasingly leading to antimicrobial resistance and environmental burden. Worldwide, the pig industry is under pressure to identify and implement effective and sustainable alternatives for microbial control in semen. The goal is to replace antibiotics in the preservation medium with an innovative technology: photodynamic inactivation (PDI) of bacteria. In an interdisciplinary consortium with partners from industry and science, the PDI technique established in a previous project will be translated into a prototype and its antimicrobial efficacy will be enhanced against specific problematic microorganisms. This is intended to bring a biosafe alternative to antiobiotics for liquid-preserved boar semen stored at 17°C to the next technology readiness level.

Cooperation Partners:

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Minitüb GmbH

Funding: DFG, 350.000 EUR

Project Details:
The aim of this project is to clarify the mechanisms underlying deep brain stimulation (DBS) for dystonia, using suitable animal models of different types of human dystonia. Already short-term, antidystonic effective stimulation leads to dampening of cortico-striatal synaptic communication. Ongoing studies focus on long-term stimulation, now made feasible by implantable stimulators. The project includes examinations on: effects on the severity of dystonia, mechanisms underlying DBS (especially oscillations and activity propagation patterns), biomarkers of therapeutic outcome (focusing on EEG and local field potential markers for feedback control), and on the role of functional plasticity and network connectivity for stimulation effects.

Cooperation Partners:

Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Köhling, Uni Rostock

Funding: Drittmittelprojekt Daimler-Benz-Stiftung, 150.000 EUR

Project Details:
The mystic water veins are no longer mystic

Biological effects relevant to environment and society can now be addressed

Water veins have received a lot of attention for more than one and a half centuries. From the very beginning numerous reports have confirmed the detection of water wells and arteries, metals and interfering by diviners. A large number of reports has also stated that water veins cause a variety of negative effects on human well being. Scientific evidence for the reliable prediction of water arteries or their potential negative health effects, however, has been considered not convincing. Many sources consider divining or dowsing as "hocus pocus"" We have shown in multiple double-blind experiments that (i) independent diviners find the same so-called water veins and that (ii) different groups of soil animals strongly avoid predicted areas of ""water veins"". Strong and highly significant proof derived from two sets of independent experiments, carried out by independent scientists and diviners at well separated times. While we do not know whether so-called water-veins have anything to do with water, we do know, however, that we now have a completely novel and highly sensitive biological assay to detect water vein related geopathic radiation (WGR). These zones are also called ""geopathic stress"" zones, since they can induce ""stress"" to humans (e.g. heart rate increase). The escape reaction of soil animals now allows to test a spectrum of shielding materials (""WGR protective shields"")."

Cooperation Partners:

Drittmittelprojekt Daimler-Benz-Stiftung

Funding: Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre, 3.167.862 EUR

Project Details:
Due to the expected changes in the TAppV and current standards of the European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education (EAEVE), which accredits veterinary education institutions, VETCURR aims to implement adjustments in the curriculum to make veterinary studies fit for the future.

In addition, the project aims to strengthen students' professional skills, resilience, and ability to deal with future-related topics. To meet the challenges that arise during studies and professional life, accompanying measures will be established that focus on practical training, tutorial support, and coaching. Adjustments to the curriculum and the integration of foreward-thinking teaching concepts are intended to strengthen practical education. In the interest of animal welfare, the expansion of compulsory teaching in the Clinical Skills Lab serves to implement the "never-the-first-time-on-a-live-animal"" concept. So that students do not perform practical skills on animals the first time, but instead receive preliminary instruction using models, simulations, or digital teaching materials."

Cooperation Partners:

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Funding: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG, 401.271 EUR

Project Details:
Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) is one of the most important immunosuppressive chicken pathogens worldwide. Despite vigorous vaccination, IBDV field outbreaks occur. This project will investigate the role of different immune cell populations in infectious bursal disease pathogenesis and will address specifically the impact of age and genotype in this context. We will therefore contribute to the overall improvement of chicken health and welfare, and in addition may inform development of new farm animal vaccination strategies. The project is embedded in the DFG-research group "ImmunoChick"". "

Cooperation Partners:

PD Dr. Angela Berndt, FLI

PD Dr. S. Härtle, LMU München

Dr. T. von Heyl, TU München

Dr. S. Früh, FU Berlin

Prof. Dr. B. Kaufer, FU Berlin

Dr. El-Sayed Abdel-Whab, FLI, Riems

Prof. Dr. B. Schusser, TU München

Prof. Dr. J. Kaufman, University of Edinburgh

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

Funding: The European Food Safety Authority, 1 EUR

Project Details:
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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)