Hamburg / Riems Island 3 November 2022 - The coronavirus pandemic has shown that infection research must consider humans, animals and the environment at the same time. The Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) and the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI), Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, are therefore intensifying their cooperation in the field of One Health research.
Animals and humans share habitats, climatic and environmental conditions - and many pathogens. Holistic infection research in the sense of the so-called One Health approach takes this into account in order to better combat diseases.
In the future, BNITM and FLI will considerably intensify their cooperation in One Health research. The heads of the institutes, Prof. Jürgen May and Prof. Thomas Mettenleiter, signed a corresponding cooperation agreement on the island of Riems. According to the agreement, the human medical research of the BNITM and the veterinary research of the FLI are to be linked even more closely than before. The aim is to combat mutual infectious diseases between animals and humans (zoonoses) more effectively and to sustainably improve human and animal health.
Synergies in teaching, research and research infrastructures
For example, the institutes want to initiate joint research projects in the area of One Health and apply for joint research funding for this purpose. Students, doctoral candidates and postgraduates will be able to participate in courses and seminars at the other institute and even conduct research at the partner institution. Scientific materials and publications are also to be shared.
BNITM and FLI hope for further synergies in the use of research infrastructures and in cooperation with partners in resource-poor regions, for example in Africa. Here, the institutes want to look for opportunities to set up joint research and training initiatives.
The President of the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Prof. Thomas Mettenleiter: "One Health should not just be a concept, but a way of life. This must also be reflected in the research around One Health. We already cooperated with the Bernhard Nocht Institute in this sense when the term was not yet common. It is all the more gratifying to be able to further strengthen our joint work here."
The Chairman of the BNITM, Prof. Jürgen May: "I am very pleased that we are now deepening our existing cooperation into a strong partnership in One Health research. This will create new opportunities to effectively address global infections."
An outstanding example of how the MoU will be brought to life is the cross-institutional EU research project "Mobilise: A novel and green mobile One Health laboratory for (re-)emerging infectious disease outbreaks". It will be able to analyse human as well as animal and plant samples.
