The Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI), is the Federal Institute for

Animal Health Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, that country's leading animal disease center. The institute was founded in 1910 and named for its founder

Friedrich Loeffler Friedrich August Johannes Loeffler (; 24 June 18529 April 1915) was a German bacteriologist at the University of Greifswald. Biography He obtained his M.D. degree from the University of Berlin in 1874. He worked with Robert Koch from 1879 to 1884 ...

in 1952. The FLI is situated on the Isle of

Riems Riems is an island in the southwestern part of the Bay of Greifswald, a broad, shallow embayment of the Baltic Sea between the German mainland and the island of Rügen. Riems belongs administratively to the urban district of Greifswald, but i ...

, which belongs to the City of

Greifswald Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (german: Universitäts- und Hansestadt Greifswald, Low German: ''Griepswoold'') is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostoc ...

. Riems is a very small island that can be reached via a dam, which can be closed off in case of an outbreak. Due to these circumstances, Riems posed the perfect location for one of the most modern animal health research facilities in the world. The Friedrich Loeffler Institute is directly subordinated to the German Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection. Its main subject is the thorough study of livestock health and other closely related subjects including molecular biology, virus diagnostics, immunology, and epidemiology. Federal laws of Germany hold the FLI responsible for national and international animal disease control; it also poses the international reference lab for several viral diseases. The institute publishes its research, and cooperates with other national and international institutions and researchers. Among the animal diseases under research are for instance

foot and mouth disease Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) or hoof-and-mouth disease (HMD) is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, including domestic and wild bovids. The virus causes a high fever lasting two to six days, followe ...

mad cow disease Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, is an incurable and invariably fatal neurodegenerative disease of cattle. Symptoms include abnormal behavior, trouble walking, and weight loss. Later in the course of t ...

, and

avian influenza Avian influenza, known informally as avian flu or bird flu, is a variety of influenza caused by viruses adapted to birds.

. Currently, 330 people work for the FLI, and an additional 140 will be employed upon completion of the construction work. 260 Million

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

s are spent by the Federal Government to build new laboratories and barns. As part of this extension, in 2010 the Riems Institute completed Biosafety level 4 laboratory facilities, which enable research activities on the most dangerous of viruses—one of four such facilities in Germany.

Organisation

The institution is managed by President Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Thomas C. Mettenleiter, who is also the Head of the Institute of molecular virology and cell biology (IMVZ) and teaches at the nearby

University of Greifswald The University of Greifswald (; german: Universität Greifswald), formerly also known as “Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald“, is a public research university located in Greifswald, Germany, in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pom ...

, and vice-President Prof. Dr. Franz J. Conraths, head of the Institute of Epidemiology (IfE). The FLI consists of the following twelve institutions at seven different locations: *

: ** Institute of Infectology (IMED) ** Institute of Molecular Virology and Cell Biology (IMVZ) ** Institute of Diagnostic Virology (IVD) ** Institute of Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases (INNT) ** Institute of Immunology (IfI) ** Institute of Epidemiology (IfE) ** Institute of International Animal Health/One Health (IITG) *

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...

** Institute of Animal Nutrition (ITE) *

Celle Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about 71,000. Celle is the southern gateway to the Lü ...

: ** Institute of Animal Welfare and Animal Husbandry (ITT) *

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...

: ** Institute of Bacterial Infections and Zoonoses (IBIZ) ** Institute of Molecular Pathogenesis (IMP) * Mariensee ** Institute of Farm Animal Genetics (ING)

FLI Late Scientists

* Günther M. Keil, Institute of Molecular Virology and Cell Biology (IMVZ).

Notes and references

External links

FLI official website
(in English) {{Coord, 54, 10, 58, N, 13, 21, 47, E, region:DE_type:landmark, display=title Agricultural research institutes in Germany Animal health organizations Biosafety level 4 laboratories Celle Greifswald Organisations based in Braunschweig Jena Molecular biology institutes Veterinary research institutes 1910 in science 1910 establishments in Germany Science and technology in East Germany Veterinary medicine in Germany