NATON method platform
The NATON method platform provides organ-specific diagnostic assurance for quality improvement. Organ-specific diagnostics are necessary for complex or unclear incoming cases. Specialized, organ-specific expertise is often lacking at certain sites, and challenging, rare, and unusual findings are encountered that are particularly important for a complex understanding of disease processes and pathophysiological relationships.
To ensure the correct classification of such cases — and thus the integration of accurate data into NATON — the expertise of the diagnostic core is essential. In addition, the surveillance and evidence core is responsible for the methodological and substantive monitoring of incoming data. This process can only be performed manually, and the evaluation of autopsy findings requires not only scientific work but also medical expertise.
The NATON services are listed below according to the expertise of each center. For overarching inquiries, please contact us by email at naton@uke.de.
| Center | UK Dresden |
| Institute | Pathology |
| Expertise | Gastrointestinal tract and liver |
| Service | Histopathological co-evaluation |
| Contact | Prof. Dr. Gustavo Baretton, Dr. Jessica Pablik |
| Procedure | Please initiate a brief contact first to clarify the inquiry, followed by sending the sample by mail (e.g., as a paraffin block or slide preparation). |
| Center | UK Tübingen |
| Institute | Patholy and neuropathology |
| Expertise | Investigation of the immune system, multiparametric tissue imaging, myocarditis diagnostics, and in situ virus detection. |
| Service | In situ characterization of the immune response using (multicolor) stainings and gene expression analyses. |
| Contact | Dr. Massimo Granai, PD Dr. Hans Bösmüller, Prof. Karin Klingel (Cardiopathology) |
| Procedure | Personal consultation for project discussion. |
| Center | UK Hamburg-Eppendorf |
| Institute | Microbiology, virology, and hygiene |
| Expertise | Infection diagnostics performed on postmortem tissue and blood [techniques include culture, molecular diagnostics, and serology]. |
| Service | Pathogen-specific diagnostics, e.g. — molecular diagnostics of respiratory pathogens — SARS-CoV-2 VOC typing [both also from FFPE material] |
| Contact | Dr. Marc Lütgehetmann, mluetgeh@uke.de; Sophie Pflüger l.pflueger@uke.de |
| Procedure | Please first initiate brief contact (via email) to clarify the inquiry, as well as the number and type of samples, followed by sending the materials by mail (e.g., as a swab, extracted DNA/RNA, etc.). |
| Center | UK Aachen |
| Institute | Pathology |
| Expertise | Lung |
| Service | Histopathological consultation, molecular pathology |
| Contact | Prof. Danny Jonigk |
| Procedure | Inquiry via covid.pathologie@ukaachen.de |
| Center | UK Aachen |
| Institute | Pathology |
| Expertise | Kidney |
| Service | Histopathological consultation, electron microscopy |
| Contact | Prof. Peter Boor |
| Procedure | Inquiry via covid.pathologie@ukaachen.de |
| Center | Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin |
| Institute | Neuropathology |
| Expertise | Tissue-based pathogen detection, pathology of the nervous system and musculature. |
| Service | Tissue diagnostics |
| Contact | Dr. Helena Radbruch, helena.radbruch@charite.de |
| Procedure | Please first establish brief contact to clarify the question, then send the sample by mail (e.g., unstained section or tissue block). |
| Center | UK Hamburg-Eppendorf |
| Institute | Neuropathology |
| Expertise | Central nervous system |
| Service | Reference evaluation, method development/standardization, tissue provision. |
| Contact | Prof. Dr. Markus Glatzel, m.glatzel@uke.de |
| Procedure | Please first establish brief contact to clarify the question. Then send the sample by mail (e.g., paraffin blocks, formalin-fixed wet tissue). After completion of the evaluation, the samples will be returned to the submitting site. |
| Center | UK Augsburg |
| Institute | Pathology and molecular diagnostic |
| Expertise | Autopsy, pathogen diagnostics: RNA-ISH, PCR, sequencing |
| Service | Pathogen diagnostics: RNA-ISH, PCR, sequencing |
| Contact | Prof. Bruno Märkl |
| Procedure | Inquiry through the secretariat (julia.fleck@uk-augsburg.de) |
