125 Years of Global Infection Research – in the heart of Hamburg

For 125 years, the Hamburg Tropical Institute at the Landungsbrücken (landing bridges) has shaped infection research worldwide. Founded as the "Institute for Maritime and Tropical Diseases," its work was initially closely linked to colonial medicine. Today, the BNITM collaborates with research institutions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Joint research projects address, among other topics, the impact of climate change on infections, malaria, hemorrhagic fever viruses such as Lassa, Ebola, and Marburg, as well as poverty-related and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

Events in the Anniversary Year

To mark the anniversary, the institute is hosting a series of high-profile events: Throughout the year, public information sessions with various thematic focuses will be held in the historic lecture hall. Former employees will report on previous research projects, and current institute members will provide information on the developments in their disciplines.

For the scientific community, BNITM is organising an international conference, in cooperation with the Federation of European Societies for Tropical Medicine and International Health (FESTMIH) and the German Society for Tropical Medicine, Travel Medicine and Global Health (DTG): the European Congress on Tropical Medicine and International Health (ECTMIH). Around 1,500 experts from Germany and abroad are expected to attend. Katharina Fegebank, Senator for Science and Research, will open the congress at the Congress Center Hamburg (CCH) on 29 September.

On September 30, a jazz concert by the Beatrice Asare Quintet will be performed in the Recital Hall of the Elbphilharmonie. The founding day, October 1, also marks the opening of an exhibition in the City Hall on the past, present, and future of the institute. The highlight of the celebrations will be a Senate reception hosted by First Mayor Dr Peter Tschentscher in the Great Festival Hall.

Research looking into the future

In addition to the anniversary, the BNITM is also pushing ahead with its structural renewal and expansion. In the last five years alone, the institute has grown from 280 to more than 400 employees. The listed old building on Bernhard-Nocht-Straße is to be extensively renovated in the coming years to combine modern research conditions with historical architecture. At the same time, a new building is being planned to provide urgently needed laboratory and office space.

125 years of global infection research – in the heart of Hamburg

Discussion about the name of the institute

In its anniversary year, the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) is also discussing the man after whom it is named: Bernhard Nocht was the first director of the former ‘Institute for Ship and Tropical Diseases’. He had a significant influence on both the Hamburg health system and tropical medicine in Germany. At the same time, he was involved in the colonial structures of his time. In view of this, the BNITM has commissioned a historical-scientific report. At the end of January, historians discussed Nocht's legacy and the question of how scientific institutions should deal with problematic founding figures today in a public panel discussion. An international commission will now develop recommendations.

About the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM)

The Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) is Germany's largest institution for research, care and teaching in the field of tropical and emerging infectious diseases. BNITM research priorities have always been considered from the perspective of Global Health/One Health and from the perspective of translation – the transfer of basic research into application. This research approach is also reflected in the five sections of the institute: pathogen -> interface (immunology, host/pathogen) -> patient (clinic) -> population (epidemiology) -> implementation (successful establishment of knowledge).

Current research topics include malaria, haemorrhagic fever viruses, neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), immunology, epidemiology and the clinical picture of tropical infections, as well as the mechanisms of virus transmission by mosquitoes. The institute has laboratories of the highest biosafety level (BSL4) and a safety insectary (BSL3) for handling highly pathogenic viruses and infected insects. The mobile laboratories of the BNITM are available for global outbreak control of highly pathogenic or highly infectious viruses.

The BNITM is the National Reference Centre for the detection of all tropical infectious agents, the Consultant Laboratory for Borna disease viruses, the WHO Collaborating Centre for Arboviruses and Hemorrhagic Fever Viruses, the WHO Collaborating Centre for Behavioural Research to Promote Global Health and an institute in the Leibniz Association.

Together with the Ghanaian Ministry of Health and the University of Kumasi, the BNITM operates a modern research and training centre in the West African rainforest that is also available to external working groups. In addition, the institute maintains numerous other collaborations in Africa, Asia and Latin America.