In 2022 the Veterinary Centre for Resistance Research (TZR, a research building according to article 91b of the German Constitution) at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Freie Universität Berlin has been opened. This new and unique research centre has been established by the Federal State of Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany.

The TZR is an international veterinary research center in which basic research on infectious diseases, hygiene subjects and veterinary-clinical disciplines work together to address the issue of resistance research.

The common goal is to reduce the growing accumulation and spread of the resistome. That means the sum of resistance characteristics of all infectious agents, including bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites, in veterinary medicine. At the same time, the common overarching issue of resistance in human and veterinary medicine is also pursued in the TZR in the sense of the "One Health" concept.

The TZR contributes to the translation of new fundamental scientific findings into diagnostic, therapeutic and hygienic measures aiming at the reduction of resistant infectious agents in animals and, indirectly, also in human medicine.

The scientific results obtained within the TZR will be directly incorporated into the training of veterinary students as well as into the continuing professional education of veterinarians throughout Berlin and Germany.

In the future, the TZR will be able to bring together veterinary institutions and clinics of FU Berlin and, in line with the TZR's research program, other local and supraregional university and non-university research institutions in animal and human medicine as well as basic research in the form of a cutting edge research center as well as a coordinating unit.

The core of the TZR encompasses:

• Highly equipped contemporary biomedical laboratories (BSL2, GMO)

• Research animal husbandry (BSL2, GMO) for poultry, pigs, ruminants and farm fish which enables the working groups involved, in particular, investigations of anti-infective resistance issues under conditions similar to those in practice

• A biobank for the asservation and provision of biological tissues and infectious agents

• Infrastructure for bioinformatic analysis of high-throughput genome sequence data, for storage of primary data, and for the provision of data and services to internal and external users