Department for Bacteria and Toxins
Lead: LtCol (VC) Dr Heiner von Buttlar
The department focuses on bacteria that are highly infectious and life threatening to human and animals. Next to bacterial pathogens, the department investigates a variety of biological toxins.
The various working groups of the department develop and optimise methods to diagnose pathogens and biotoxins as well as conduct epidemiologic investigations. A priority of the department is to improve bioforensic techniques using next-generation sequencing (NGS), fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH), and electron microscopy. The institute’s diagnostic unit offers all new diagnostic methods developed by the department.
The department also harbours the national reference laboratories for Brucella and Plague.
Cooperations
The department collaborates nationally and internationally with various civilian and military research institutions, such as the Swedish Defence Research Agency, the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, the Italian Army Medical and Veterinary Research Center or the Mongolian National Center for Zoonotic Diseases. Especially in the field of bacterial genotyping, the department closely works with groups in the USA, Great Britain and Italy.
Current extramural funding
since 2020 | FORTE Eurothrax | Dr Graß |
since 2016 | Ukrainian-German Biosecurity Initiative for Risk Management of Zoonosis close to the European Border | Dr von Buttlar |
since 2013 | Georgia: Network for Development of Biosecurity in the Caucasus Region | Dr von Buttlar |