The Institute of Virology was established in 1973 as a separate division of the Centre for Laboratory Medicine of Hannover Medical School. It was then led by Prof. J. Drescher who had already been in charge of diagnostic virology in the Division of Microbiology since 1967. In 1978 the Institute relocated to the ist present location on the 6th floor of the then new building "Klinisch-Theoretische Institute II" ("Theorie II"; see map). Since April 1st, 2000, Prof. T.F. Schulz has been head of department. In addition to our clinical virology service multiple research activities are being developed in the area of molecular virology and the cell biology of viruses. Currently approximately 60 people are working in the Institute, of whom 9 are being funded by external research grants (mainly from the German Research Council, "Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft").

There are currently three research teams established in the department for which detailed information is available on individual pages. Prof. T.F. Schulz directs a research group on Kaposi’s sarcoma associated herpesvirus/human herpesvirus 8 (KSHV/HHV8), a recently discovered human tumour virus. Dr. Beate Sodeik leads a team investigating the cell biology of Herpes simplex virus. Dr.A.Heim has an interest in enteroviruses and adenoviruses and is in charge of the National Advisory Laboratory on Adenoviruses. The retroviral vectors group is lead by Dr. Beyer. Two other research groups are currently being developed.

We provide a diagnostic virology service to the university hospital, as well as to several surrounding hospitals and physicians in practice. As explained on our diagnostic virology page, we offer a large number of serological assays to detect antibodies to different viruses, as well as methods to detect viruses directly by conventional culture, antigen detection, electron microscopy and/or modern molecular biology techniques. We provide a 24 hour emergency on-call diagnostic service for certain investigations (beeper 74-3353; mobile telephone: 0171 8691515). During normal working hours, the service virologist can be contacted by phone (0511 532 9555) or by beeper (74-3353) and will respond to queries concerning individual cases/results, as well as providing advice on how to diagnose/treat viral infections and on sample collection/shipment. .

We run a vaccination clinic for immunisations required by international travellers (Thursday 2:00 - 3:30 p.m.in the Neurology outpatient clinic). In particular we are licensed to vaccinate against yellow fever. Information on this service is available through the virology secretariat (0511 532 6736).

Our teaching programme covers a lecture course and practical classes in Medical Virology for medical students. We offer an Introduction to Medical Virology to Dentistry students. We also offer a lecture course in Basic Virology and two practical classes for students of biology or biochemistry at Hannover University. In addition we offer the opportunity for students of medicine, biology or biochemistry to work on small, individually tutored research projects. For medical students interested in doing their dissertation project in virology we offer challenging experimental projects. For diploma students in biology or biochemistry there is the opportunity to carry out their 6 month research project in any of our research groups. Details can be found on our teaching page and on the pages for individual research groups. Dr. Sodeik, together with Dr. Bauernfeind (Dept. Cell Biology) also run a journal club in Cell Biology.