Press releases and news 2011

In the ChiBio project, which is funded by the EU, the Straubing Project Group BioCat of the Fraunhofer IGB together with international partners is aiming to develop new methods of producing specialty and fine chemicals from chitin-rich fishing-industry waste.

Fraunhofer IGB’s Dr. Christian Schuh emerged as winner on the second day of the Elevator Pitches ideas competition at the Fraunhofer internal networking symposium “Netzwert 2011” with 33.6 percent of the participants’ votes.

Industrial wastewaters contain organic pollutants that are not treated in municipal wastewater treatment plants. Researchers of the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart have been developing, in cooperation with European partners, an automated treatment system that breaks these organic pollutants down while simultaneously tracking the success of the treatment.

The “Production System for Human Skin” which was developed jointly under the leadership of Professor Heike Walles at the Fraunhofer IGB together with the Fraunhofer Institutes for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA, Production Technology IPT and Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI, was one of the prizewinners in the 2011 nationwide innovation competition “365 Landmarks in the Land of Ideas”.

Éclairs and other pastries should taste light and fluffy. If the pastry dough contains too many microorganisms, though, it will not rise in the oven. Now, researchers have devised a system that cleans itself automatically after every batch of dough. This means the dough is sterile – and for the first time, it can be made in large quantities off-site for delivery to bakeries. Researchers will showcase these and other combinations of cleaning methods and equipment at the parts2clean trade fair, October 25-27, 2011, in Stuttgart (Hall 1, Stand F 610 / G 707).

Researchers have been working at growing tissue and organs in the laboratory for a long time. These days, tissue engineering enables us to build up artificial tissue, although science still hasn’t been successful with larger organs. Now, researchers at Fraunhofer are applying new techniques and materials to come up with artificial blood vessels in their BioRap project that will be able to supply artificial tissue and maybe even complex organs in future. They are exhibiting their findings at the Biotechnica Fair that will be taking place in Hannover, Germany on October 11-13.

Herpes infections on the lips, in the eyes or on the nose are painful, long-lasting and unpleasant. A new 3D herpes infection model brings hope: active ingredients and new treatments can be reliably tested with this model. Animal tests could soon be a thing of the past.

Surgical instruments or implants that are contaminated with residual bacteria, or pyrogens, can cause blood poisoning in patients. Researchers are developing a test that imitates the human innate immune system in the laboratory, eliminating the need for animal experiments.