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Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine

Hamburg, N/A, DE • 250 - 499 Employees
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The Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) is Germany's largest institution for research, services and training in the field of tropical diseases and emerging infections. Research topics include clinical studies, epidemiology and disease control as well as the biology of the respective pathogens, their reservoirs and vectors. The present scientific focus is on malaria, haemorrhagic fevers, tuberculosis and tissue nematodes. To study highly pathogenic organisms such as Lassa and Ebola viruses, the institute is equipped with laboratories of the highest biosafety level (BSL-4). Infected mosquitoes can be studied under BSL-3 conditions. Outstanding scientific achievements in the recent past include the identification of the SARS coronavirus and the discovery of a previously unknown developmental stage of malaria parasites in humans. Services of the institute include specific laboratory diagnostics of tropical diseases, emerging and other rare infections, but also a close co-operation with the German army as well as consultation of the scientific community, industry, politics and the public, which greatly contribute to the national standing of the institute. The institute comprises the German National Reference Centre for all tropical pathogens, reference laboratory for SARS and WHO "Collaborating Centre for Arbovirus and Haemorrhagic Fever Reference and Research". In co-operation with the Ghanaian Ministry of Health and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, the institute since 1998 runs the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research (KCCR), a modern research and training centre in Ghana, which is also open to external research groups. As a research institute of national importance, the institute is a member of the Leibniz Association and jointly funded by the Federal Government, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the other Federal States.