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Prof. Thomas Otto sets up the new "Digital Infection Biology" Department
The Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) launches its new "Data Science Centre". It will connect all of BNITM's research departments and pave the way for new scientific discoveries using cutting-edge digital technologies. Prof. Thomas Otto will head the centre's new department "Computational Infection Biology". Otto brings many years of experience in bioinformatics and genomics to BNITM.
Modern infection research produces vast amounts of data at a rapid pace, from genetic information on pathogens to epidemiological and clinical data. Without powerful computational methods, much of this data remains unconnected and unused. This is precisely where the new centre comes in: It creates structures to consolidate data from all five research sections of the BNITM, analyse it using innovative bioinformatics methods and artificial intelligence (AI), and make it accessible to the research community.
"The flood of data in infection research is both an opportunity and a challenge. With the new centre, we are creating the conditions to no longer view our diverse data in isolation and to take infection research to the next level. Innovative computer-assisted research is no longer an add-on, but the core of modern infection research," says Prof. Jürgen May, Chairman of the Board of the BNITM. "Our data only reveals its full potential when we share, link, and systematically evaluate it."
Prof. Thomas Otto heads new "Department of Computational Infection Biology"
Prof. Thomas Otto's new department of "Computational Infection Biology" is dedicated to the question of how pathogens evolve, adapt, interact with the human body, and trigger disease, thus opening up new possibilities for treatment, intervention, and prevention. To this end, Otto and his team will develop new bioinformatics methods ranging from genome and transcriptome analysis to innovative AI-supported procedures. A focus of his work will be to prepare complex datasets so that they are accessible to all researchers in-house and beyond – whether through user-friendly analysis pipelines, joint workshops, international summer schools, or new forms of training such as datathons, where researchers work together on large datasets. Starting October 1, 2025, Otto will also assume his professorship in "Pathogenome Bioinformatics" at the University of Hamburg; the appointment was made jointly with the BNITM. There, he will strengthen teaching and training in bioinformatics and further expand the close network between BNITM and the university.
"I am very excited to be starting my work here at the BNITM. My goal is to build a strong bioinformatics community together with colleagues. This will enable us to answer crucial questions about pathogen evolution, host-pathogen interactions, and disease dynamics, while simultaneously fostering new collaborations," says Prof. Thomas Otto.
International Networking and Global Responsibility
The new centre will also contribute to international research networking and strengthening capacities in the global South. Especially for poverty-related diseases or neglected tropical diseases, resources for large-scale studies are often lacking. By pooling existing data and evaluating it using new bioinformatics and artificial intelligence approaches, researchers at the BNITM and their African partners can make decisive progress in the future. Examples range from improved prediction of the spread of malaria to the development of new digital diagnostic methods. Prof. Otto already brings extensive experience in collaborating with African partners. For example, at the University of Ghana, together with Prof. Gordon Akanzuwine Awandare, he used innovative methods of machine learning and transcriptomics to better understand disease progression in malaria patients. He now wants to build on this successful collaboration and closely link his new department at the BNITM with the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR).
"I am delighted that we have been able to gain an internationally renowned expert in Prof. Thomas Otto and look forward to our collaboration with great confidence," says Prof. Jürgen May.
About the Centre “Data Science”
The new centre is based on the special funding programme "Computational Sciences for Pathogen Research and One Health," which the Joint Science Conference of the German Federal and State Governments approved at the end of 2023. This instrument provides long-term funding for strategically important projects within the Leibniz Association. For the BNITM, this represents a long-term strengthening in the field of digital infection research. The STB will enable the establishment of sustainable structures for data analysis, bioinformatics, and international networking, thus further expanding the BNITM's role as a leading centre for tropical and infectious disease medicine.
About the BNITM
The Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) is Germany's largest institution for research, care, and teaching in the field of tropical and emerging infectious diseases. Its main areas of expertise are malaria, hemorrhagic fever viruses, neglected tropical diseases, immunology, and epidemiology. With high-security laboratories (BSL-4) and a high-security insectarium (BSL-3), the institute is also an international leader in the handling of highly pathogenic pathogens. Research at the BNITM is organised into five sections that cover the entire path from basic research to application: Pathogen (pathogen research), Interface (host-pathogen interactions and immunology), Patient (clinical research), Population (epidemiology), and Implementation (implementation research). As a member of the Leibniz Association, the BNITM combines basic research with clinical application and global collaboration.
The BNITM maintains numerous international collaborations, particularly in Africa. A key partnership exists with the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR) in Ghana, which is jointly operated by the Ghanaian Ministry of Health and the University of Kumasi. This close collaboration enables research, training, and capacity building directly in a region where diseases such as malaria and other tropical infectious diseases are endemic.
Prof. Dr Thomas Otto
Research Group Leader
Email : thomas.otto@bnitm.de
https://www.bnitm.de/en/forschung/forschungsgruppen/implementation/ag-computatio...
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