The Heinrich Pette Institute, Leibniz Institute for Experimental Virology (HPI) was founded in 1948 by Heinrich Pette, a German neurologist. It began as a research facility to create a poliovaccine. It is now a private foundation and involved with basic research in virology and the immune responses of organisms. The institute is a non-profit public beneficiary organisation and an independent member of the Leibniz Association, and is located at the University of Hamburg.