The group of Wolfgang Beyer has been working from 1992 until end of 2021at the Department of Livestock Infectiology and Environmental Hygiene, the Institute of Animal Science of the University of Hohenheim, mainly in duty of the veterinary service in Germany.

The group was well established as a cooperation partner for the leading anthrax laboratories in Europe and worldwide. The institute still owns a large culture collection of aerobic endospore forming bacteria of European, Asian, and African origin. The nearly entire strain collection of about 1000 isolates of B. anthracis is now hosted by the Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology, Munich.

The main research interests have been in

• the development and improvement of diagnostic tools for detection of zoonotic bacteria. Special expertise exists in the development and validation of laboratory methods for the detection of Bacillus anthracis from environmental samples, including specimens suspicious to contain spores of intentionally released bacilli,

• the establishment and improvement of methods for forensic and molecular-epidemiological investigations of outbreaks of zoonotic bacteria. Using these techniques, the group has been engaged in the investigation of the endemic anthrax situation in southern Africa,

• the investigation of the life cycle of members of Bacillus cereus sensu lato in environmental habitats and within living vectors,

• the development and pre-clinical testing of recombinant vaccines against anthrax, comprising (i) multiple recombinant proteins with various adjuvants, (ii) DNA vaccines, and (iii) live recombinant carrier vaccines,

• the development and pre-clinical testing of novel therapeutics against anthrax,

• the role of temperate phages on the life cycle of B. anthracis,

• the usage of lytic phages for therapeutic usaged in animals and for disinfecting purposes.

Since October 2021 Wolfgang Beyer is working as a private consultant for projects to investigate the probable contamination of environmental samples with spores of B. anthracis.

Wolfgang Beyer is also working as a private consultant for the use of bacteriophages for therapeutic purposes in animals, as an alternative to or in combination with antibiotics.