Leibniz Research Alliance INFECTIONS in an Urbanizing World - Humans, Animals, Environments
Improved hygiene and better prevention and treatment have diminished the incidence of infectious diseases particularly in industrialised countries. However, increasing antibiotic resistance, emergence of new pathogens, together with changes in pathogen distribution due to altered climate and mobility are global challenges for humankind. The Leibniz Research Alliance (LRA) INFECTIONS aims to establish an interdisciplinary research agenda and opens up new avenues of communication across disciplines. New strategies and methods for early warning and outbreak management systems will be developed to control spread of pathogens.
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Madagascar mouse lemur retroviruses are diverse and surprisingly similar to ones found in polar bears or domestic sheep
Press release of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research from January, 13, 2023
Madagascar is home to a unique biodiversity with a large number of endemic species, among those many lemur species, including the mouse lemurs. This diversity is also found in their retroviruses, a team led by scientists from the Leibniz Institute of Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) and the University of Stirling reports in the journal “Virus Evolution”. They analysed the mouse lemur genome and identified viruses of two classes that represent ancient infections of the mouse lemur germline. The viruses now behave similarly to lemur genes and are thus called endogenous retroviruses (ERVs). It was surprising that some of the identified retroviruses are closely related to viruses found in other, very different mammals such as polar bears or domestic sheep. This suggests an intriguing and complex pattern of host switching of retroviruses, much more complex than previously thought.
INFECTIONS ON TOUR IN BRüSSEL
On Jan. 24, 2023, a panel discussion on "The spread of antibiotic-resistant germs as a global crisis" took place at the Hessian State Representation in Brussels, to which Prof. Ulrich Schaible, spokesman of the Leibniz Research Network (LRA) INFECTIONS, was invited. The event was livestreamed and is now available to all interested viewers in the aftermath.
Cell compartments as niches for survival of infectious agents in the body
Press release of the Leibniz Center Infection from January, 20, 2023-- translated from German
International Symposium of the Leibniz Center Infection
Hamburg. The multiple strategies of infectious pathogens to survive and multiply in the host and how we might use these sophisticated strategies to better fight the pathogens are the focus of this year's symposium "Compartments in Infection" of the Leibniz Center Infection (LCI). On January 26 and 27, 2023, international researchers will gather at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine to discuss this topic.
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Speaker Prof. Dr. Ulrich E. Schaible Research Center Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center (FZB) T +49 4537 188 6000 uschaible@fz-borstel.de
Coordination Dr. Susanne Pätzold Research Center Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center (FZB) T 04537 188 5840 spaetzold@fz-borstel.de
Public Relation Britta Weller Research Center Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center (FZB) T 04537 188 2870 bweller@fz-borstel.de
Dr. Anna Holst Research Center Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center (FZB) T 04537 188 2690 aholst@fz-borstel.de
