The photo shows an expectant mother talking to two healthcare workers.

©KCCR

News

Zero maternal mortality at the BNITM's partner hospital

A reduction from 499 deaths to zero within just four years: The Presbyterian Hospital in Agogo, Ghana, has achieved this success. According to the hospital management, one of the main reasons is the intensive cooperation with the scientific community: with the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR), the Kwame Nkrumah University (KNUST) and the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM).

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S. mansoni Granulom: Hämatoxylin/Eosin-Färbung eines Leberschnitts von einer Maus, die 14 Wochen lang mit S. mansoni infiziert war. Vergrößerte Ansicht des Lebergranuloms, das die Parasiteneier umgibt

©BNITM | Imke Liebold

Publication

Nature-changing diet

Macrophages remove dying cells, for example after infections. They are part of the "cleaning team" of our immune system. What is new is that the ingested cells change the function and genetic make-up of macrophages. Researchers from the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) and at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) have discovered this and published their results in the renowned journal "Science".

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©Leibniz Association

Press release

Pandemic preparedness

The new Leibniz Lab "Pandemic Preparedness: One Health, One Future" combines the knowledge and expertise of more than 40 Leibniz Institutes from a wide range of disciplines: from life sciences, health technologies and health economics to educational research. The Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) is also involved. The new format will be funded for three years from April with three million euros.

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Graphic shows the interaction of the nucleoprotein and Z protein molecules of the Lassa virus

©Sänger et al. (2023) | J Am Chem Soc.

Research Highlight

New role for viral RNA discovered in Lassa virus

The viral genome must be protected from degradation in the host cell: Researchers at the BNITM, in collaboration with several partners, have discovered that viral RNA triggers an important step in this process. They also identified the viral nucleoprotein as a potential target for future antiviral drugs.

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Greenish graphic that visualises the topic of "AI in biology and medicine". It shows a brown microscope on the right, three filled test tubes on the left and, on the very left and in the background, DNA strands and binary codes with ones and zeros.

©BNITM AI-generated with Adobe Firefly

Press release

BNITM goes digital

Digitisation push at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine: from 2025, the institute will be setting up the overarching centre "Computational Sciences for Pathogen Research and One Health". The virtual centre will be linked to all five research sections of the institute. The Joint Science Conference of the federal and state governments had previously given the green light for funding from the Leibniz Association.

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