Press releases and news 2019

The Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB participates in the EU project imSAVAR to develop innovative model systems for the evaluation of immunomodulatory therapeutics. The institute coordinates the development of novel immunocompetent in-vitro models with a focus on microphysiological systems, especially organ-on-chip platforms, as well as on cell-based reporter gene assays with immune receptors. Fraunhofer IGB also leads the Management work package and is part of the Project Management Office together with Fraunhofer IZI.

By 2050, the chemical industry should operate in a climate neutral fashion, which means phasing-out fossil oil, gas and coal. Therefore alternative carbon sources and renewable energy have to be utilized in order to replace fossil reserves. A new Stuttgart Research Initiative will elaborate on the concept of such a future chemical factory, both from a fundamental and application-oriented standpoint. The University of Stuttgart, German Aerospace Center (DLR), the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB will be involved in the initiative.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB is using a new, recently patented process to develop new polyamides from the terpene 3-carene, a residual material from the cellulose industry. The biobased polyamides Caramid-R^® and Caramid-S^® produced using this process represent a new class of polyamides with outstanding thermal properties. The production of the monomer for Caramid-S^® was already successfully piloted in a 100-liter scale. The Fraunhofer researchers will present the new polyamides at the K trade fair in Düsseldorf from 16 to 23 October 2019 (Hall 7.0, Stand SC01).

Organ-on-a-chip technology has the potential to revolutionize drug development. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB have succeeded in putting various types of tissue onto chips. Their latest coup has been to recreate the human retina in the form of a retinal organoid. In a parallel development, the research team hopes that organ-on-a-chip technology will open up the field of gender-specific medicine.

Impact statement: New technology that recreates some of the complexity of the human retina may help scientists study eye disease and screen for drug side effects that harm the eye.

How can we achieve the internationally agreed climate targets? The Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB makes the greenhouse gas CO₂ usable as a carbon source for the chemical industry. With a patented catalyst synthesis, screening for the optimal catalyst in high throughput and combined (electro)chemical-biotechnological processes, various concepts are available to CO₂ emitting industries. The platform chemical ethylene has already been successfully produced from CO₂ in an electrochemical demonstrator with an electrode area of 130 square centimeters.

Under the name "Variolytics", Dr.-Ing. Matthias Stier and his team are planning to set up a spin-off company in order to launch their real-time mass spectrometer developed at the IGB. They have applied for a grant from the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi) as part of the "EXIST − business start-ups in science" funding programme. With success: The application has now been approved and the project will be supported with over 1.5 million euros over a period of two years.

“The future of sustainable value creation systems” was the theme of a workshop on the Biological Transformation of the European manufacturing industry, hosted by the European Technology Platform ManuFUTURE and Fraunhofer in Brussels. Some 40 experts from industry, the European Commission and research institutions discussed how materials, structures and processes of living nature could be used in manufacturing for a more sustainable future. In parallel the Commission published the first draft of the “Strategic Plan” for Horizon Europe which references bio-inspired and bio-integrated manufacturing as well as “enhanced information-based technologies inspired by nature and biology”.

The founding phase is complete: the European Organ-on-Chip Society (EUROoCS) is now welcoming members to join. The annual conference, held this year in Graz (Austria), saw launch of the community website and the start of its availability as an information resource. “We invite scientists, engineers, as well as regulators and patient representatives interested in these new laboratory models to become active members of the society and contribute to efforts of the Organ-on-Chip community in promoting recognition and implementation of this exciting research field,” says Christine Mummery, chair of EUROoCS and professor of Developmental Biology at Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB and the University of Stuttgart aim to use the climate-damaging greenhouse gas carbon dioxide as a raw material for the production of chemicals. To do this, they are developing a combined plasma and membrane process that splits CO₂ into oxygen and the chemical base material carbon monoxide. The process is made possible by the separation of oxygen using a new perovskite capillary membrane. This membrane is CO₂-stable and permeable for oxygen at 1000°C.

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is collaborating globally with excellent partners to create synergies for research and to build bridges to regional markets. With this in mind, two new Project Centers were opened in Israel on May 21 during a ceremony at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem: The “Fraunhofer Project Center for Cybersecurity at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem” and the “Fraunhofer Project Center for Drug Discovery and Delivery at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem”. The two Project Centers combine the expertise of the Israeli partners from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) with the competencies of the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology SIT and the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB and are the first project centers of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Israel.

Fossil based chemicals are often used in textile processing. That is why the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB is researching sustainable biobased alternatives. The Institute is working on utilizing side streams from the animal feed manufacture for the production of chitosan. The biopolymer is supposed to be used as a sizing agent in the processing of yarns or for the functionalization of textiles. Fraunhofer IGB will present its work at the techtextil trade fair from May 14 – 17 in Frankfurt am Main.

The future of medicine is biological – and scientists hope we will soon be using 3D-printed biologically functional tissue to replace irreparably damaged tissue in the body. A team of researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB has been working with the University of Stuttgart for a number of years on a project to develop and optimize suitable bioinks for additive manufacturing. By varying the composition of the bioma-terial, the researchers have already succeeded in expanding their portfolio to include bone and vascularization inks. That has laid the foundations for manufacturing bone-like tissue structures featuring capillary networks.

Together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS in Halle, Fraunhofer IGB is committed in the area of sustainable green chemistry. In March, a partnership agreement was signed for a cooperation of Fraunhofer with the OCP Group, world leader in the phosphate and derivatives market. The aim of the partnership is research into the synthesis and production of green hydrogen and green ammonia, which can be used as sustainable raw materials for the fertilizer industry.

At ICE 2019, the Fraunhofer Institutes for Applied Polymer Research IAP, for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB and for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP will present innovative technologies for sustainable food packaging. They each have extensive expertise in processing, process development and control, the development of special polymer films and the deposition of ultra-thin layers for the packaging industry.

The European Project SUNRISE, “Solar energy for a circular economy”, has been selected as one of the six Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) within the Horizon 2020 programme. Funded with €1M, it will last one year (starting in spring 2019), setting the basis for a European large scale research project. The SUNRISE Vision is a radical and ambitious scientific and technological approach for solar energy conversion and storage to provide a sustainable alternative to fossil-based, energy-intensive production of fuels and base chemicals. This is fully aligned with the recently released European Commission long-term strategy for a climate neutral Europe by 2050. SUNRISE joins together stakeholders from academia, industry, policy and society, including NGOs and global players in the energy, chemicals and automotive sectors, to develop the S&T roadmap of a large research initiative in the Energy, Environment and Climate Change area.

Producing vaccines is a tricky task – especially in the case of inactivated vaccines, in which pathogens must be killed without altering their structure. Until now, this task has generally involved the use of toxic chemicals. Now, however, an innovative new technology developed by Fraunhofer researchers – the first solution of its kind – will use electron beams to produce inactivated vaccines quickly, reproducibly and without the use of chemicals.