 The duties of the FLI include research on animal diseases, such as Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, foot-and-mouth disease and swine fever, and the development of preventive and protective measures against it, especially veterinary vaccines.As of 2006, Riems was working on a vaccine for the avian flu.By 2010, the Institute was to reduce their current locations Tübingen, Wusterhausen and Jena to just Jena and Riems.