The Bernhard-Nocht-Institut fur Tropenmedizin is the National Reference Center for Tropical Infectious Agents in Germany. Research is dedicated to infectious diseases that are of particular relevance to the tropics. BNI offers assistance to hospitals, medical practices and laboratories worldwide in diagnostics of exotic and rare infectious agents (viruses, helminths, protozoa, and bacteria) and conducts research in the fields of microbiology, immunology, and human genetics. Main facility dedicated to the project is the new BSL4 laboratory that is part of the European Centre for Training and Research on Imported and Highly Contagious Diseases . The new BSL4 facility will act as an international resource for scientists seeking to conduct specific projects involving BSL3 and BSL4 pathogens, insect experiments, or field studies.

Tasks: Leader of JRA-WP7 on BSL4 viruses. BNI will provide access to the BSL4 virus collection at the "European Centre for Training and Research on Imported and Highly Contagious Diseases" and will conduct joint research projects on BSL4 viruses to establish and maintain the collection.

Experience:

 Operation of a BSL4 laboratory to investigate and diagnose highly pathogenic viruses such as Lassa and Ebola virus for more than 20 years.
 Establishment of the "European Centre for Training and Research on Imported and Highly Contagious Diseases" (EUTRICOD, supported by FP6 Infrastructure grant), including BSL4 and BSL3 facilities.
 Performing research programmes on identification and characterisation of emerging viruses; e.g. identification of SARS coronavirus in 2003 (N Engl J Med 348, 1967)
 Experience with generation of BSL4 related bioproducts and their distribution to European research facilities (coordination of FP6 research project Development and commercial production of standardized PCR-assays for detection of viral hemorrhagic fever viruses and variola virus and their implementation in the diagnostic service of EU P4 laboratories, Contract No SSPE-CT-2003-502567)
 Holding the largest collection of Lassa virus strains in Europe (sources: bilateral contract with the UN mission on Lassa fever diagnostics in Liberia and research projects in Nigeria)

Key staff members:

PD Dr. med. Stephan Günther, German. Head of Department of Virology and BSL4 laboratory of BNI Study of medicine in Berlin and private lecturer (Virology) at the University of Hamburg MD specialisation in Medical Microbiology, Virology, and Infection Epidemiology 1993-1998 Post doc at the Heinrich-Pette-Institute of Experimental Virology and Immunology, Hamburg; 1998-2005 Research group leader, Department of Virology, BNI.

Dr. rer. nat. Petra Emmerich, German, Head of Biosafety and Coordinator BSL4 Laboratory. Study of biology at the University of Hamburg, PhD thesis at the Department of Virology, BNI

Dr. med. Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit, German. Head of Clinical Virology unit at BNI. Study of medicine in Berlin and MD thesis at the Institute of Virology of the Charité, Berlin. Post doc at the Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Institute for Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Riems, Germany and Institute of Virology, University of Frankfurt.

References:

Drosten, C., GUNTHER, S., et. al. (2003b). Identification of a novel coronavirus in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome. N Engl J Med 348(20), 1967-1976.

Vieth, S., Torda, A. E., Asper, M., Schmitz, H. und GUNTHER, S. (2004). Sequence analysis of L RNA of Lassa virus. Virology 318(1), 153-168.

Hass, M., Golnitz, U., Muller, S., Becker-Ziaja, B. und GUNTHER, S. (2004). Replicon system for Lassa virus. J Virol 78(24), 13793-13803.

Asper, M., Sternsdorf, T., Hass, M., Drosten, C., Rhode, A., Schmitz, H. und GUNTHER, S. (2004). Inhibition of different Lassa virus strains by alpha and gamma interferons and comparison with a less pathogenic arenavirus. J Virol 78(6), 3162-3169.

Hass, M., Westerkofsky, M., Muller, S., Becker-Ziaja, B., Busch, C. und GUNTHER, S. (2006). Mutational analysis of the lassa virus promoter. J Virol 80(24), 12414-12419.