Overview of research projects

Funding: MWK, 540.878 EUR

Project Details:
Comprehensive characterization of the hormone profiles of the HPG axis in male and female Long COVID patients, hormone panels, hormone measurements and statistical evaluations.
Creation of expression profiles of sex hormones and
sex hormone receptors in the plasma, lungs, reproductive organs and brains of male and female hamsters.

Results:

https://www.umg.eu/forschung/corona/cofoni/

Project Details:
Flexural deformities are common in foals. Conservative therapy by systemic administration of oxytetracycline (OTC) is often effective, however, it is associated with risks and disadvantages. The aim of the project is to test the potential effect of pharmacological alternatives to OTC on tendon tissue ex vivo.

Results:

Cardinaux, E.M., Oltmanns, H., Beineke, A., Meißner, J., Geburek, F.

Pharmacological alternatives to oxytetracycline as potential treatment of flexural limb deformities in foals: a preliminary in vitro cell viability and proliferation study. In: Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the European College of Veterinary Surgeons, ECVS; Valencia, Spain, July 4-6, 2024, Vet. Surg. 2024, 53, O3.

DOI: 10.1111/vsu.14127

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/vsu.14127?msockid=3bbb10b1936a636d06e205cc92aa6203

Project Details:
The project focuses on the isolation of phages from the feces of bearded dragons. After isolation, phages are examined and classified according to their efficacy and characteristics. Subsequently the influence of phage application on the microbiom and shedding of Salmonella is examined. These examinations are of relevance because of the zoonotic potential of Salmonella shedding in reptiles.

Cooperation Partners:

Robert-Koch-Institut Wernigerode

Funding: MWK, 104.704 EUR

Project Details:
COFONI LZF-TP-Expansion to include the research area
"Interdisciplinary research into the long-term consequences of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic"

Results:

https://www.umg.eu/forschung/corona/cofoni/

Funding: MWK via UMG (COFONI), 86.260 EUR

Project Details:
Type I interferon signaling and mitochondrial dysfunction in the heart acute and long-Covid disease.

Results:

https://www.umg.eu/forschung/corona/cofoni/

Funding: Industry (Animal breeding), 1.056.339 EUR

Funding: Drittmittelprojekt, gefördert durch die Fritz-Ahrberg-Stiftung., 100.000 EUR

Project Details:
Raw sausage products are stabilised exclusively through a suitable fermentation process. This process, as well as additives and the quality of the raw materials, ultimately determine the safety of the end product. If nitrite is reduced or replaced in the recipe, the production parameters must be adjusted so as not to jeopardise the safety of the products. The consumption of short-ripened and nitrite-reduced raw sausages can pose a risk to the consumer if the lack of drying and altered ripening processes allow pathogenic and spoilage-causing bacteria to multiply.
Bacillus species are bacteria with a broad application profile in food production. They are used as starter cultures in modern biotechnological processes, but also in traditionally fermented products. They are able to form so-called bacteriocins. These are ribosomally synthesised peptides with a high antibacterial activity. Application of these bacteriocins in sausage production can extend the shelf life of food and prevent the occurrence of pathogenic germs. Due to their small size, bacteriocins can also penetrate biofilms or prevent their formation. As starter cultures, bacteriocin-forming bacteria can make an important contribution to the safe production of fermented products and thus contribute to increased safety of short-ripened and nitrite-reduced raw sausages. Bacteriocins also do not affect the sensory properties of food, nor the composition of the intestinal microbiota in humans, as they are degraded by proteases in the gastrointestinal tract. The bacteriocin nisin produced by Lactococcus lactis is approved as a food additive in Europe and has GRAS (generally recognised as safe) status in the USA.
For the reasons mentioned above, Bacillus strains that have not been investigated so far are to tested in the present project for their antimicrobial properties against meat-relevant spoilage and zoonotic pathogens (e.g. Campylobacter spp., listeria and salmonella). With an already established high-throughput method on a laboratory scale, this can be done with a hundred isolates simultaneously. Cell-free culture supernatants are obtained, which are subsequently used to identify the potential bacteriocins. Promising Bacillus isolates are tested in a second step in short-ripened and nitrite-reduced raw sausage products as a supplement to established starter cultures.

Funding: Drittmittelprojekt, gefördert durch Fritz-Ahrberg-Stiftung., 67.500 EUR

Project Details:
Sous vide cooking is the heating of raw ingredients under controlled temperature-time combinations in heat-stable vacuum bags. As with all LTLT cooking methods, the choice of a suitable temperature-time combination is the most important parameter for microbiologically safe food in sous vide-cooking. The aim of this study is to define microbiologically safe temperature-time combinations for the inactivation of pathogens in sous vide-cooked minced beef and pork. In addition, a characterization of technological and sensory aspects of the influence of the sous vide cooking method on hamburger patties is carried out.

Funding: Drittmittelprojekt, gefördert durch die Fritz-Ahrberg-Stiftung., 17.500 EUR

Project Details:
Comparative tests are carried out with different sample materials. Fresh pork, chicken and beef are used, as well as meat products from the categories of raw and cooked sausage and ham (raw and cooked ham).
Three selected sample thicknesses are examined in each case, depending on commercially available cuts and products on offer, in order to be able to assess the influence of the material height on the subsequent analyses. The actual tests then include the measurement of color and texture.
With regard to the color measurement (instrumentally by means of chromameter), an interaction between sample material, sample thickness and background color is examined. The aim is to sensitize subsequent projects to possible influences and misinterpretations in connection with the methodological implementation.
When assessing the texture, various attachment tools are available for instrumental measurement using TA.XTplus, which are to be selected and compared depending on the respective material. The aim is to evaluate the necessity of the different preparation-intensive measurements and to identify comparable tools as well as to compare the measurement results of the different tools.

Funding: Bundesministeriums für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), 38.190 EUR

Project Details:
In the context of Listeria monocytogenes infections during pregnancy, neurodevelopmental disorders have been described as post-infectious long-term consequences in surviving children, such as cognitive deficits, learning disabilities or personality changes. Neurons migrate several centimeters through the growing brain to reach the correct position and form the proper connections that ensure normal brain structure and function. Our hypothesis is that Listeria monocytogenes infection causes surviving neural progenitor cells to mature more rapidly, and possibly migrate aberrantly. Aberrant migration may then result in defective synapses, some of which could cause network hyperexcitability. In order to study the functional (network) changes induced by infection with Listeria monocytogenes in the developing brain in vitro, in cells of the target species human, neurospheres (a model for brain development) are generated from human induced pluripotent stem cells in high throughput. These will be used for infection experiments in the joint project. Functional readouts will be used to investigate whether infection with Listeria monocytogenes affects the growth of neurites, the ability of growing neurons to migrate, or to form electrically active networks at different stages of neurosphere development. If the hypothesis is confirmed, additional underlying molecular signaling pathways will be investigated in order to identify therapeutic targets in the long term. In a workshop, interested researchers will be introduced to the culture and analysis of human fetal neurospheres after infection.

Cooperation Partners:

Prof. Dr. Sonja Bröer, FU Berlin