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 Data Science Centre will 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. The BNITM will collaborate closely with Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR) in Ghana.

The new centre is based on the special funding program "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.

Further Reading

• Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (01.09.2025): BNITM establishes Data Science Centre