Press releases and news 2006

Tissue engineering and gene expression analysis – this year, Jan Hansmann and Elena Lindemann from Stuttgart have been awarded the Hugo Geiger Prize for Life Sciences for their university theses. The profile of the Hugo Geiger Prize is described here.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB are investigating the production of artificial tissue. In his thesis "Development of a bioreactor for use in vascularized tissue engineering", Jan Hansmann made significant progress towards the creation of complex-structured artificial organs.

The third Hugo Geiger Prize was awarded to Elena Lindemann. During her research placement at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB, she developed a simple alternative method of gene expression analysis.

Two Fraunhofer IGB students were awarded the Hugo Geiger Prize 2006: Jan Hansmann and Elena Lindemann.

Gene expression analyses give an answer to the question, which genes are active in a cell at the moment of investigation – meaning which genes are transcribed into messenger RNA and then translated into proteins (expressed). At the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB scientists have developed a novel high-resolution and highly sensitive process, which can be used universally for any desired non-sequenced eukaryotic organism. Therefore, the method is of great interest for research in the pharmaceutical, the agricultural and the chemical sector.

They are only a few nanometers in size, but their impact is tremendous: The tiny particles drive cancer cells to their death in no time at all. At nano tech 2006 in Japan from February 21 to 23 Fraunhofer researchers will demonstrate in Hall 4 the great efficiency of nanoscopic particles as a vehicle for drug delivery.