Bernhard-Nocht-Institut für Tropenmedizin

The research institution BNITM

Founded in 1900, the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM), originally a department of the Hamburg Health Authority, has been an independent, non-profit research institution in the form of a foundation under public law based in the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg since 2008. In accordance with the purpose of the foundation, the BNITM is dedicated to research, teaching, training and further education as well as counselling and care in the field of tropical diseases and emerging infectious diseases.

The institute combines modern laboratory research on the biology of pathogens, their reservoirs and vectors with clinical research on the pathophysiology, epidemiology and disease control of tropical diseases in endemic areas. Current foci are malaria, worm infections and other parasitoses as well as diseases caused by arboviruses and haemorrhagic fever viruses, and the development of new diagnostics. For the handling of highly pathogenic pathogens and infected insects, the Institute has laboratories of the highest biological safety (BSL-3, BSL-4) as well as a safety insectarium (BSL-3).