Press / Publications

A microfluidic chip takes up a water sample, adds the necessary chemicals and transports it to the detection site. What's the point? In this way, the water is to be analyzed fully automatically and with various parameters, and at the lowest possible cost. A further developed chip prototype for water analysis devices has emerged from the MICROCHIP project.

How can viruses be effectively eliminated from indoor air? This question is now becoming more important as fall approaches. Efficient indoor air purification is essential, especially in schools. Fraunhofer researchers are investigating and op- timizing various filter and air purification techniques in the AVATOR project.

Cervical cancer is the 4th most common cancer in women worldwide. Early detection of precancer has shown to be successful in reducing cancer incidence and mortality. The Horizon 2020 CHILI project aims to translate new cervical cancer screening strategy to low-income settings. The strategy includes a new cervical cancer screening test which is currently being developed in ELEVATE another Horizon 2020 project, and combines self-sampling with a low-cost, portable measurement device, detecting both the human papilloma virus – the main cause of cervical cancer – and cancer biomarker proteins.

SARS-CoV-2 virus emerged at the end of 2019 has caused COVID-19 pandemic with over 3.7 million deaths worldwide, more than 1 million deaths in Europe and about 90.000 deaths in Germany. At the moment, variants originating in very different countries are still spreading rapidly and keeping the world on tenterhooks. We need technologies that are fast, accurate, portable to facilitate detection wherever needed, and do not require expensive, complex laboratory equipment or the expertise of highly skilled people.

Fraunhofer researchers are working as part of an international consortium to develop ammonia-based fuel cells. When used as fuel for ships with electric engines, ammonia is as eco-friendly as hydrogen, but easier and safer to handle. Fraunhofer reports on this in "Research News".

The BMBF-funded project CTCelect is making significant progress in the investigation of isolated circulating tumor cells (CTCs). In an integrated approach including user surveys as well as ethical and legal aspects, the consortium has developed and tested a system for CTC isolation over the last four years, which is robust and easy to use for the user and is based on the patient-friendly collection of a single blood sample. With the help of the development status of the open and thus flexibly applicable CTCelect system validated on real samples, extensive new results in medical research are made possible.

A new type of microreactor for synthesis with Grignard reagents will make reactions faster, safer and also yield a purer product. What’s more, the new microreactor is scalable and can be operated flexibly. Fraunhofer reports on this in "Research News".

As a pioneer in applied research, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft brings together the expertise of 23 separate Fraunhofer facilities to develop new development and production technologies for innovative cell and gene therapeutics, as well as vaccines, in the “Production for Intelligent Medicine” innovation cluster. As a first step of the project, a concept for a modular pilot plant for the automatic production of these therapeutics is to be developed combining both Industry 4.0 and Health 4.0.

Fraunhofer IMM participates in a maritime innovation project looking to install the world’s first high-power fuel cell to be powered by green ammonia on a vessel. The project has been awarded 10 million Euro funding from the European Union.

Launch of a new H2020 project aiming to incite a transition to a more flexible and sustainable chemistry by taking novel integrated upstream and downstream processing paths involving flow chemistry and membrane technology in two chemo-enzymatic processes to an industrial level.

Based on the long term experience in micro fluidics and lab-on-a-chip systems Fraunhofer IMM will develop a microfluidic cartridge which can perform a fully automatic complete sample preparation and all required analytical steps once inserted into the instrument.

The Fraunhofer ICT -IMM Institute and Döhler are collaborating in the development of a new microbiological detection method based on microfluidics.

Fraunhofer ICT-IMM is coordinating a national research cooperation dealing with the development of a microreactor system for the environmentally friendly utilization of CO2 by means of sunlight.

The research partners Volvo Technology (Sweden), Johnson-Matthey (United Kingdom), Modelon AB (Sweden), PowerCell AB (Sweden), Jožef Stefan Institute (Slovenia), Forschungszentrum Jülich (Germany) and Fraunhofer ICT-IMM (Germany) have reached their final goal by the end of the FCGEN project: they have developed a diesel-powered fuel cell system and successfully demonstrated its functionality in autonomous operation mode.

Fraunhofer ICT-IMM meets representatives of Canadian Embassy and Granting Agency

Medical science today is better developed than ever and pharmaceutical companies are continuously working on innovations. The composition of medicines, their purity and of course their constant quality are of utmost importance. At this point NMR spectroscopy, one of the most important analytical methods of organic chemistry and a standard method for the structure elucidation of chemical compounds, may help.

The galleys inside airliners voraciously consume power - a vital yet limited resource in a plane. Additional power units may soon come to the rescue: housed inside trolley carts in the galleys, these units deliver both supplemental power and thus uncouple the power to the cabin and the kitchen from that which is supplied to the rest of the aircraft. This novel technology is a debut feature on Trade Days at the International Paris Air Show, June 15 to 21 (Hall 1, Booth G316).

The production of chemicals is still dominated by the use of stirred-tank reactors. This large scale industry approach is limiting the viability of the product spectrum while not even being designed for saving resources. Green Chemistry is the magic word in this context. Using light as activating energy can complement the conventional thermal path by a photochemical route. This will open the supply of a variety of complex chemical compounds. In the context of the Green Chemistry sustainability principles Fraunhofer ICT-IMM is implementing photochemistry as an important synthesis route for its future industrial applications.

Unfortunately, the following scenario is no longer absurd: terrorist attacks in cities around the world are currently feared more than ever. Important transfer sites such as metro stations pose a risk. What is to be done if poisonous smoke or gases occur in an underground tunnel system? Every human being has the deep-rooted desire to „rapidly ascend to fresh air“. In such a situation this survival instinct would, however, most likely turn out to be a fatal mistake. This is due to the fact that in the majority of the cases the intuitively used escape routes are at the same time the propagation paths for smoke or other hazardous gases.

Fraunhofer ICT-IMM coordinates a transatlantic research collaboration to develop a system for the continuous-flow synthesis of fluorine- and phosphor- containing fine chemicals with an integrated online NMR analysis.