Overview of research projects

Project Details:
Etruscan shrews need to constantly hunt to meet their energy requirements; because of their small body size, their relative energy consumption is very large. To efficiently hunt in close range, these animals rely especially on tactile sensory cues. However, for long-range detection of prey these animals likely use their well-developed hearing. Due to their small body and head size, these animals are expected to hear in frqeuncy range above 5 kHz and therefore are an ideal model system to investigate high frequency hearing and adaptations to miniaturization of mammalian neuronal circuits. We attempt to describe their auditory brainstem strucutes by applying structural and functional markers. After the initial anatomical characterization we will use electrophysiological techniques to comparatively study the properties of adutiory brainstem neurons. Thereby we will focus on biophysical and synaptic size adaptations within conserved neuronal circuits.

Funding: Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft (DFG), 110.700 EUR

Project Details:
Tetraspanins are evolutionary conserved integral membrane proteins of 200-350 amino acid lengths. Through their large extracellular loop they mediate protein - protein and protein - lipid interactions in cellular membranes thereby shaping membrane microdomains called ?tetraspanin webs?. In humans and mice 33 tetraspanins are described and mosquito species express at least 15 tetraspanin orthologs. In mammalian cells, tetraspanins are host co-factors for several viruses including papillomaviruses, influenza virus, hepatitis C virus, HIV-1 and coronaviruses (Gerold et al., 2015; Bruening et al. 2018; Banse et al., 2018; Alberione et al. 2020; Palor et al., 2020). For hepatitis C virus, colleagues and we showed that the tetraspanin CD81 is a host range determining factor (Vogt et al. 2013; Scull et al., 2015; von Schaewen et al., 2016).
The proposed project aims at characterizing in detail, which of the 33 human tetraspanins in addition to CD81 are host factors for alphaviruses and whether tetraspanins from reservoir species, dead end host species and transmitting mosquito vectors serve as host factors of alphaviruses. Thereby the work will contribute to the understanding of the molecular composition and function of alphavirus replication complexes and determine the role of tetraspanins in species range, transmission and consequently emergence of alphaviruses.

Funding: Europäische Union, Europäischer Landwirtschaftsfonds für die Entwicklung des ländlichen Raums - ELER, 179.500 EUR

Project Details:
Abstract:
The consequences of climate change are reflected in rising temperatures and, at the same time, more frequent extreme weather conditions. This has direct consequences for agriculture. Long-term high temperatures not only put a strain on people, but also on farm animals. Against the background of the predicted longer periods of heat in the coming summers, an adapted climate management for all barn and husbandry types is one of the central adaptation tasks in the course of climate change.
At the same time, farms face the challenge of reducing ammonia emissions. This not only aims at improving the nitrogen utilization and thus at resource-saving and efficient fertilization, but also in particular at the pollution of the environment through N-deposits from the air (over-fertilization and acidification) and human health through secondary dusts that accumulate can form from ammonia.
In addition, the responsibility of the animal owner for the well-being of his animals is at the center of the social discourse on the future of the agricultural and food industry. In animal and barn management, care must be taken to ensure that optimal husbandry and feeding conditions prevail in order to prevent diseases.
In order to meet these challenges at the same time, the aim of "Mee(h)r im Stall" is to test an integrative climate system that reduces the challenges and fields of action outlined for agricultural operations
1. Of temperature peaks in the course of climate change in livestock stalls
2. Ammonia levels in the stable air
3. Fine dust levels in the stable room and
4. the germ pressure
equally and successfully addressed via an air conditioning application in poultry fattening houses.

So far, there has been no system in livestock husbandry that takes all of the challenges outlined into account at the same time. In "Mee(h)r im Stall" an integrative air conditioning system is used, which connects two technical systems that are already used effectively in other economic contexts (e.g. slaughter, food processing, beverage and pharmaceutical industry, hospital) by means of "intelligent" switching and control technology and thus addresses the four outlined fields of action for poultry farmers in a needs-oriented manner and at the same time focuses on the working conditions for workers in the barn.
On the one hand, a hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) nebulization system is used. To date, H2O2 nebulization has mainly been used for disinfection purposes. An ionization process is also used to simultaneously optimize the air quality for animals and people in the barn. The functional principle is very simple: negative and positive ions are generated by the so-called bipolar ionization. These ions convert the oxygen into reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as superoxides, peroxides and hydroxyls. These electrically charged ions have the property of binding to microparticles in the air and thus clean the air of dust and harmful substances such as mold, viruses, bacteria and allergens. Regardless of the processes mentioned above, one has the subjective feeling of perceiving a sea breeze in the barn. More sea in the stable!

Link:
https://www.uni-vechta.de/meehr-im-stall

Cooperation Partners:

Trafo:agrar

AKE ZentriJet GmbH

Geflügelbetriebe Mahlstedt und Kühter

Funding: Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung, 51.831 EUR

Project Details:
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global challenge worldwide, and generally results from consumption of antimicrobials. Antimicrobial use (AMU) in animal production is part of these processes and has been recognized as a source of global burden of AMR. Surveillance of veterinary AMU and AMR and its reduction is one of the strategic objectives of many regional and global initiatives on antimicrobial resistance crisis. Since, the resistance to critically important antimicrobials like colistin, particularly due to mobile colistin resistance gene (mcr-1), has already been reported in Pakistan from commercial broilers, wild birds and human. Therefore, data on antimicrobial usage and its association with resistance should be prioritized in food animals. Although Pakistan?s National Action Plan on AMR urged to monitor and reduce antimicrobials use and resistance in animals, little effort has been done to curb AMR in food animals. The objective of this project is to quantify AMU in commercial broiler farms in Pakistan and its association with the emergence of AMR in commensal E. coli isolates from broilers. The proposed study will fill the important knowledge gap on the AMU of critical importance antimicrobials in broilers farming, phenotypic antibiotic resistance and genomic characteristics of multidrug resistant E. coli using next generation sequencing approach. The association between AMU and AMR will be determined using statistical approaches. Our work will be an important contribution toward understanding the interplay between AMU and AMR at farms-level in Pakistan and other low- and middle-income countries with comparable farming practices.
This project comes under One-Health remit on antimicrobial resistance and aligns perfectly with the work at University of Veterinary Medicine, Foundation, Hannover which has been also designated as the WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training for Health at the Human-Animal-Environment Interface.

Results:

Umair M, Mohsin M, Sönksen UW, Walsh TR, Kreienbrock L, Laxminarayan R. Meas-uring Antimicrobial Use Needs Global Harmonization. Glob Chall. 2021 Jun 10;5(10):2100017. doi: 10.1002/gch2.202100017.

 

Mohsin M, Farooq U, Hartmann M, Brogden S, Kreienbrock L, Stoffregen J. Case Study: Using a Shared International Database to Document Veterinary Consumption of Antibiotics in Pakistan. Antibiotics (Basel). 2023 Feb 15;12(2):394. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics12020394.

Cooperation Partners:

Institute of Microbiology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan

Funding: DFG, 255.550 EUR

Project Details:
Bovine Viral Diarrhea/ Mucosal Disease (BVD/ MD) is an economically important notifiable disease of cattle. The causative agent, BVD virus (BVDV), is a plus strand RNA virus of the family Flaviviridae, genus Pestivirus. BVDV is known to enter oronasally and through the respiratory tract, from where it spreads to various organs and tissues. The initial stage of infection is poorly understood. In the context of preliminary work it was shown that non-differentiated polarized respiratory epithelial cells are highly susceptible to apical and basolateral infection with BVDV, but virus release occurs only via the apical side of the cells. Thus, it remains unknown how pestiviruses cross the barrier of the airway epithelium. However, it is well established that BVDV and other pestiviruses have a strong tropism for immune cells. Therefore, an important goal of this project is to explore the pathway by which BVDV crosses the barrier of the respiratory epithelium and spreads from there to immune cells.
In the first part of the project, the infection of airway epithelial cells (tracheal/bronchial epithelial cells) will be investigated. Two cell culture systems established at the Institute of Virology are available for the analysis of end-differentiated cells: Air-liquid-interface (ALI) cultures and precision lung slices (PCLS). Subsequently, cells that have not yet completed differentiation or cells that are in the regeneration phase after epithelial injury will be examined. Finally, we will analyze whether BVDV can overcome the epithelial barrier in a paracellular manner by exploiting leaky junctions between cells. To find out whether the different infection characteristics in the different culture systems and under the various infection conditions depending on the degree of differentiation can be correlated or explained with the presence of the cellular receptor, the expression of the receptor for BVDV, CD46, will be analyzed. For the detection of CD46 a monoclonal antibody is available, which was produced at the Institute of Virology. Another focus will be studies on the infection of macrophages. Co-cultures of macrophages and airway epithelial cells will be established to find out whether macrophage infection can be used to overcome the epithelial barrier.
Other interesting perspectives for future projects include the role of cellular innate immunity for respiratory epithelial infection with BVDV, and viral-viral or viral-bacterial co-infections.

Funding: MWK über Universität Göttingen, 29.423 EUR

Project Details:
Schwere COVID-19-Krankheitsfälle sind durch das Auftreten einer schweren Lungenentzündung charakterisiert, die häufig einen Krankenhausaufenthalt erfordern. Bis zu einem Drittel der hospitalisierten Patienten entwickeln kritische Komplikationen, wie einen diffusen Alveolarschaden, welcher zum akuten Atemnotsyndroms (ARDS) führt. Ein detailliertes Verständnis der komplexen Pathogenese und der daraus resultierenden Krankheitskomplikationen ist dringend erforderlich, um wirksame Behandlungsstrategien für die SARS-CoV-2-Infektion zu entwickeln. Mehrere erfolgreiche Präventionsstrategien wie Impfstoffe wurden entwickelt und für ihre Anwendung beim Menschen zugelassen. Wir sind jedoch noch weit von einer Eindämmung der Krankheit entfernt und könnten mit dem vermehrten Auftreten von Virusvarianten vor zusätzlichen Herausforderungen stehen. Zwar ist bereits viel über die Pathogenese und Behandlung der akuten COVID-19 Erkrankung bekannt, jedoch wissen wir immer noch sehr wenig über die potentiellen Langzeitfolgen. Es wird immer deutlicher, dass eine protrahierte Genesung ein häufiges Merkmal COVID-19 ist, ein Phänomen, das allgemein als "Long-COVID" oder Post-COVID-Syndrom bezeichnet wird. 30-60% der Personen leiden nach der Genesung von einer akuten Virusinfektion an anhaltenden Symptomen wie Müdigkeit, Kurzatmigkeit und verringerter Belastbarkeit. Dieses Projekt soll dazu beitragen, die Mechanismen von "Long-COVID" besser zu verstehen und daraus neue Behandlungsstrategien abzuleiten.

Funding: MWK über Universität Göttingen, 24.805 EUR

Project Details:
Die Zusammensetzung und Reaktivität des lungenspezifischen Immunsystems wird durch verschiedene Mechanismen gesteuert. Wichtig ist hierbei insbesondere die körpereigene, genetische Disposition des Individuums. Genetische Varianten sind wichtige Determinanten der kindlichen Asthma- und Virusinfektionsanfälligkeit . Aber auch äußere Faktoren wie Infektionen, Rauchen oder Umweltgifte können das Immunsystem des Lungengewebes prägen. Neuste Studien zeigen, dass auch dem Lungenmikrobiom eine bedeutende Rolle bei der Regulierung und Aktivität des Lungenimmunsystems zukommt. Das Lungenmikrobiom wurde spät entdeckt, da man lange Zeit davon ausging, dass die Lunge eine pathogenfreie, sterile Umgebung darstellt. In diesem Projekt soll der Einfluss der Lungemikrobioms auf die Schwere einer SARS-CoV-2 Infektion untersucht werden.

Funding: DFG, 240.000 EUR

Project Details:
Wild animals can serve as reservoir for causative agents of important livestock diseases including African and Classical swine fever, Foot and mouth disease, Bluetongue as well as for zoonotic viruses like SARS coronaviruses, Rabies virus, and Hepatitis E virus. In recent years, a growing number of emerging viruses were identified in domestic and wild animals. These include novel bunyaviruses, reoviruses, astroviruses, birnaviruses, circoviruses and parvoviruses from wild boar detected during the first funding period of VIPER. Another example is the identification of pestiviruses from non-ungulate hosts including rodents, bats, pangolin, and a whale. Further characterization of these newly identified viruses, including studies on viral replication, innate immune responses and other virus-host interactions, depends on successful virus isolation and propagation in tissue culture cells. Preliminary work revealed that the whale pestivirus can efficiently infect swine kidney cells and viral antigen is detectable by a monoclonal antibody. However, for several other viruses virus isolation was not successful. The recent establishment of airway and intestinal epithelial cells organoid cultures from pigs and cattle at our institute can be very useful for isolation and subsequent characterization of selected novel viruses. It is expected that the results of this project will enhance our understanding of viral evolution, origin, cross species transmission and virus-host interactions of human and animal viruses, and thus improve outbreak preparedness and infectious disease control.

Results:

https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/17/1/107

Funding: EIP_Agri, ELER_Fonds Hier investiert Europa in die ländlichen Gebiete mit der Maßnahme: Europäische Innovationspartnerschaft Mit dieser Maßnahme wird die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Landwirtschaft, Ernährungswirtschaft und Wissenschaft unterstützt. Ziel ist die Durchführung von Projekten, die zu Innovationen und einer Stärkung der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit in der Landwirtschaft führen., 482.195 EUR

Project Details:
The project "DEALS- Decontamination with alternative methods as a hurdle concept on carcasses and cuts of pork, broiler and turkey" investigates the combined application of several innovative decontamination methods in connection with meat production. The aim is to reduce the number of carcasses to be discarded (resource conservation) and to improve or ensure the food safety of the meat (consumer protection). For this purpose, plasma water as well as UV-C treatment, the application of starter cultures and the newer application of plasma water in the form of EWNS (engineeres water nano structures) are to be used. Step by step these decontamination methods will be applied in vitro on pure cultures of relevant microorganisms, on carcass surfaces of pigs, broilers and turkeys, and finally on meat cuts. Within the project, a prototype for the combined application of the methods is to be developed in cooperation with the HAWK, which has already proven itself in another EiP project. The close exchange with the OG partners from the downstream primary production (slaughterhouses) is particularly essential for the practical implementation of the ideas.

Cooperation Partners:

HAWK- Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaft und Kunst Hildesheim. Göttingen, Holzminden;

Schlachtbetrieb Mario Klos;

Lohmann & Co.AG

Funding: Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre, 549.540 EUR

Project Details:
The aim of the SOUVER@N project is to promote sovereign digital teaching and learning. This includes
1) the sovereign, i.e. competent and learning goal-oriented use of digital tools on the part of teachers and students (digital literacy) as well as
2) the professional development of high-quality digitally enriched teaching/learning concepts and content, and
3) the digital sovereignty of the universities as institutions strengthened by the network.

Results:

https://www.souveraenes-digitales-lehren-und-lernen.de/home/

Cooperation Partners:

1) Universität Osnabrück

2) Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg

3) Leuphana Universität Lüneburg

4) Technische Universität Clausthal

5) Stiftung Universität Hildesheim

6) Universität Vechta

7) Medizinische Hochschule Hannover

8) ELAN e.V. (1. Förderphase August 201 - Juli 2024)