Press and Media

The world is having to feed an increasing number of mouths. Studies indicate that global population will rise to over nine billion by the year 2050. In response, Bayer AG is researching resistant cereal varieties and enhanced crop protection. A new 24-hour monitoring system from the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics FKIE will help protect the fields where these test crops are grown and thereby safeguard this time-consuming and cost-intensive research.

In a so-called inactivated or killed vaccine, the virus particles it contains are first rendered inactive by means of the toxic chemical formaldehyde. A better way of achieving this, however, is to irradiate the pathogens with low-energy electrons. Four Fraunhofer Institutes have now developed a new method of vaccine production based on this technique that is not only quicker but also guarantees a higher quality of product. The next step is to take this patented technique to market as quickly as possible. In order to accelerate the transfer and ensure that this new method is truly competitive, the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA has teamed up with specialized machinery manufacturer KyooBe Tech GmbH and with TIM Consulting.

The development of biopharmaceuticals is a long and expensive process. A decade or more can elapse between the discovery of a new protein-based active ingredient and the release of a new drug. One major hurdle on this journey is the passage from the lab to clinical trials. As a rule, it takes between 18 months and two years to produce this kind of investigational medicinal product for use in clinical trials. However, at the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM, researchers from the Division of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology have now developed a production method that reduces this step to just six months.

Wastewater plants employ a variety of effective and established processes to treat sewage and wastewater. As yet, however, there is no ideal, uniformly recognized method for removing trace substances. Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT are seeking to change this. In a project known as ZeroTrace, they are pursuing an integrated approach that combines their very own activated carbon composite with a newly developed electrical regeneration process. The result is a method that promises efficiency, sustainability and large-scale viability.