Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg and Bundeswehr Central Hospital Koblenz cooperate

Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg and the Bundeswehr Central Hospital in Koblenz are involved in application-oriented research. The two neighbouring scientific institutions have now concluded a cooperation agreement that puts collaboration in bioscientific research on a formal footing.

As part of an initial cooperation project, an H-BRS student from the Applied Biology degree programme was able to participate in the findings of the group led by medical parasitologist and infection biologist Professor Patrick Scheid at the Bundeswehr Central Hospital for her Bachelor's thesis last year, for example. There, the student was introduced to the basics of working with so-called "free-living amoebae".

From better understanding to the development of treatment approaches

Back at the H-BRS in Rheinbach, she researched the metabolism of certain amoebae in Professor Jörn Oliver Sass's team. The joint research has contributed to a better understanding of molecular processes in amoebae - including those that can cause disease. This collaborative project was carried out on a harmless amoeba which, as the closest relative, is an ideal model organism for the so-called "brain-eating amoeba". This single-celled organism is found in warm fresh water, but also in the water of inadequately maintained swimming pools.  It can reach the brain via the nose and cause primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), which is usually fatal.

"A better understanding of rarely occurring diseases is often of crucial importance for the development of treatment approaches," says H-BRS Professor Sass.