Research Group Heussler (Malaria I) - Bernhard-Nocht-Institut für ...

Introduction
The appearance of SARS during this reporting period
has again demonstrated how suddenly infectious diseases
can emerge and how fast a new infection can
spread from one continent to the next. The Bernhard
Nocht Institute (BNI) played an important role in the
worldwide network against SARS culminating in the
identification of the SARS Coronavirus by BNI members.
Other highlights of these two years were the successful
evaluation of the BNI by the Leibniz Association
and the construction of the buildings for the Kumasi
Centre for Collaborative Research (KCCR) in Ghana.
The Bernhard Nocht Institute
Founded on 1st October 1900 as Institute for Maritime
and Tropical Diseases the BNI is still Germany’s largest
research institute for tropical medicine and still connects
laboratory research with clinical studies and patient
care under one roof. The BNI is a government institution
affiliated to the Federal Ministry of Health and the
Ministry of Health of the State of Hamburg and is financed
jointly by the Federal Government and the States of
the Federal Republic of Germany. It is a member of the
Leibniz Association that comprises institutes of national
scientific impact. The BNI has approx. 350 members
(including the staff of the Clinical Department, the diploma
students and guests working for short time periods),
it has 30 staff scientist positions and employs altogether
87 scientists including PhD students.
Mission of the BNI
As the German centre for research in tropical medicine
the Bernhard Nocht Institute is dedicated to research,
training and medical care in the area of human infectious
diseases which are of particular relevance in the
tropics. It is the primary mission of the BNI to develop
means for the control of these diseases. Secondary
missions are to provide expertise for regional and national
authorities and to (directly and indirectly) improve
health care for national and regional citizens in regard
to diseases of the tropics.
A clinical department with 62 beds and an out-patient
clinic where patients with tropical infections are
treated is an integral part of the BNI. The hospital and
its staff are entirely financed by health insurances.
There is a travel medicine centre associated with the
hospital to advise travellers on prophylaxis. The Central
Diagnostic Unit of the BNI performs specialized diagnostic
tests for the detection of tropical viruses and pathogens
causing parasitic diseases. The unit serves as the
National Reference Centre for Tropical Infections for
Germany. For work with haemorrhagic fever viruses
there is a biosafety level 4 laboratory available in the
BNI.
The BNI has multiple educational activities. It is engaged
in postgraduate training in the area of tropical
7
Introduction
medicine. In the reporting, period 24 diploma theses
and 34 doctoral theses were completed, a record in the
history of the BNI. Seventeen members of the BNI are
teaching at the University of Hamburg at the Faculties
of Medicine, Biology and Chemistry. Three members of
the institute hold full professorships (for Molecular Parasitology,
Immunology and Molecular Tropical Medicine)
at the University of Hamburg. A three-month's
course on tropical medicine is held each year that is approved
as an officially accredited diploma course by
the German Medical Board and the American Society
of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
Research
The Institute conducts disease-oriented basic research
and applies contemporary techniques of cell biology,
molecular genetics and immunology to the characterization
of host-pathogen-interactions in tropical infectious
diseases. The research activities of the BNI concentrate
on three areas:
(1) cellular and molecular biology of infectious agents
that cause tropical diseases,
(2) the host response to those agents and its role in protection
and pathology, and
(3) a disease oriented approach to pathogenesis and
pathology.
Accordingly, the studies focus on infectious diseases
caused by parasites and tropical viruses. Main topics of
work are pathogenicity factors and cell biology of parasites,
the analysis of the host-parasite-interaction including
immunological defence mechanisms, and the definition
of genes causing susceptibility to certain tropical
infections. In all these ventures, special emphasis is put
on two issues: relevance for disease, prevention and
control, and use of tropical infections as models for general
issues in medicine and biology.
Organization
To fulfil these aims the BNI has a specific organizational
structure. Three scientific sections (Parasitology, Medical
Microbiology, Tropical Medicine) contain departments
established for longer periods of time and temporary
research groups and closely associated is a Clinical
Department. Research groups are usually installed
for a limited period of time only and will be replaced
by new groups according to scientific necessity.
The Parasitology Section contains the Departments
of Molecular Parasitology and of Biochemistry and several
research groups working on pathogenicity factors,
biology of pathogens including biochemical pathways
and mechanisms of adaptation and evasion. The Medical
Microbiology Section contains the Departments of
Immunology working on host-responses to parasites,
the Department of Virology, concentrating mostly on
tropical viruses, the Department of Helminthology (until
2003), a Central Diagnostic Unit acting as National Reference
Centre for Tropical Infections and the animal
experimentation facilities. The Tropical Medicine Sec-