The Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) is the Germany’s largest institute for research, treatment and training in the field of tropical diseases and new emerging infections. Research topics include clinical studies, epidemiology and disease control as well as the biology of pathogens, their reservoirs and vectors. The current scientific focus is on malaria, haemorrhagic fever viruses, immunology, epidemiology and clinical studies of tropical infections as well as on the mechanisms of the viral transmission by mosquitoes.

The Institute has been appointed by the Federal Ministry of Health as the National Reference Center (NRC) for the detection of all tropical pathogens as well as by the WHO as Collaborating Center for arboviruses and haemorrhagic fever viruses.

As a member of the Leibniz-Association and as a research institute of national importance, the Institute is jointly funded by the Federal Government, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the other federal states.