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The Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI), is the Federal Institute for Animal Health of Germany, that country's leading animal disease center. The institute was founded in 1910 and named for its founder Friedrich Loeffler in 1952. The FLI is situated on the Isle of Riems, which belongs to the City of Greifswald. Riems is a very small island that can be reached via a dam, which can be closed off in case of an outbreak. Due to these circumstances, Riems posed the perfect location for one of the most modern animal health research facilities in the world. The Friedrich Loeffler Institute is directly subordinated to the German Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection. Its main subject is the thorough study of livestock health and other closely related subjects including molecular biology, virus diagnostics, immunology, and epidemiology. Federal laws of Germany hold the FLI responsible for national and international animal disease control; it also poses the international reference lab for several viral diseases. The institute publishes its research, and cooperates with other national and international institutions and researchers. Among the animal diseases under research are for instance foot and mouth disease, mad cow disease, and avian influenza. Currently, 330 people work for the FLI, and an additional 140 will be employed upon completion of the construction work. 260 Million Euros are spent by the Federal Government to build new laboratories and barns. As part of this extension, in 2010 the Riems Institute completed Biosafety level 4 laboratory facilities, which enable research activities on the most dangerous of viruses—one of four such facilities in Germany.
