National Reference Centers and Consultant Laboratories
Public health microbiology laboratories play a central role in detecting infectious diseases, monitoring outbreak response and providing scientific evidence to prevent and control diseases. In 1995, in agreement with the German Federal Ministry of Health, the Robert Koch Institute established a public health microbiology system consisting of national reference centers (NRCs) and consultant laboratories (CLs). The general goal of this system is to improve the efficiency of infection protection by advising the authorities on possible measures and to supplement infectious disease surveillance by monitoring selected pathogens that have high public health relevance.
National reference centres have important roles and responsibilities associated with accurate diagnosis, resistance testing and prevention of the spread of infectious disease. They establish and use reference methods and can validate and verify test results from other laboratories. NRCs also produce and distribute reference materials for external quality control and quality assurance.
Consultant laboratories focus primarily on guidance and advice for a specific pathogen to health professionals and the national public health services ("Öffentlicher Gesundheitsdienst", ÖGD). Additionally, specific diagnostic methods are available.
Currently, there are 21 NRCs and 39 CLs, each appointed for three years. These laboratories are considered national centers of excellence in the field of laboratory science for a particular pathogen or group of pathogens. Of these, 5 NRCs and 13 CLs are currently situated to the RKI; the others are located at various universities, federal or state institutes, private laboratories and research facilities in Germany, with one binational CL being based in Austria.
List of all NRCs and CLs
List of all national reference centres and consultant laboratories in Germany (in German)
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NRCs and CLs at the Robert Koch Institute