The Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNI) is Germany’s oldest and largest institution for research in the field of Tropical Medicine. It is a government institution affiliated to the Federal Ministry of Health of the Fereal Republic of Germany and the Ministry of Health of the State of Hamburg. It belongs to the institutes of the so-called “Blue List” that have national impact on science in Germany and are financed jointly by the Federal Government and the States of the Federal Republic of Germany. 
The BNI was founded in 1900 to pursue research on tropical infections and to treat patients with tropical diseases coming to Hamburg harbor by ship. It is still located in the historical building of 1914 overlooking the harbor. Today the BNI is a modern research institute focussing on diseases caused by tropical parasites and viruses. Its main aim is the analysis of the host-parasite-relationship including immunological defence mechanisms, pathogenicity factors of parasites, cell biology of parasites and definition of genes causing susceptibility to certain tropical infections. 
The BNI has many cooperations and contacts with developing countries, most of them with countries in Africa but also with countries in South America and Asia. The institute presently maintains a research laboratory in Macenta, Guinea, for research on onchocerciasis, the building of a larger permanent Cooperative Research Center in Kumasi, Ghana, is under way. 
Besides research the BNI has multiple educational activities. It is engaged in postgraduate training in the area of Tropical Medicine. Several members of the BNI are affiliated with the University of Hamburg as professors. The BNI has a Division of Clinical Medicine where patients with tropical diseases are treated. The Central Diagnostic Unit of the BNI performs specialized diagnostic tests for the detection of pathogens causing parasitic diseases. The Institute is equipped with the only P4 facility in Germany for work with hemorrhagic fever viruses.