The genome-editing tool CRISPR-Cas is one of the most groundbreaking developments for the field of molecular biotechnology throughout the last decades. Researchers worldwide are free to use this tool. However, the economical use is another matter: companies have to acquire licences from the institutes that patented the innovation.
Amsilk GmbH is the world’s first industrial supplier of synthetic silk biopolymers and aims to make the new uber-material available for use in medical or technical products as well as cosmetics. The Martinsried-based start-up engineered bacteria to produce the spider silk polymer. Those microbes are now producing the coveted proteins in large quantities. Using this white protein powder the bioengineers even manage to produce synthetic fibres.
Nano-technicians can construct fascinating structures with the double-stranded DNA molecule. Based on the principle of base-pairing, distinct DNA sections can be programmed to interact with other DNA segments. This method allows for the construction of molecular nanostructures. In recent years this so-called “DNA-Origami”-technique has gained more and more recognition. If the DNA is programmed accordingly, the molecule will even morph into three-dimensional nano-building blocks and nano-machines.
A vaccination is training the immune system to be able to fight the pathogens in the future. Distinct surface structures on the germs are teaching the body’s defense system the corresponding immune responses for future infections.
The Chitosan is mixed with an industrial polyester producing a hybrid fibre that combines the biologically qualities of Chitosan with the mechanical strength of the synthetic polymer. The new fibre is particularly suitable for medical applications such as implants or surgical yarns.
Sonja Jost's message is that the term "green chemistry" need not be a contradiction in terms. Her curiosity and passion for analysis led the native of Lower Saxony to a business idea with the potential to revolutionise the pharmaceutical industry. As part of the UniCat Cluster of Excellence, the expert on chiral catalysts developed a process at the TU Berlin that involved replacing petroleum-based solvents used in drug manufacture with water, and conserving and recycling precious-metal catalysts.
They are found in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, cleaning agents, on seeds and even in fire extinguishers: surfactants. These substances reduce the surface tension of a liquid or the interfacial tension between two liquid phases. Surfactants can be used to mix generally immiscible liquids together or separate them from each other in a controlled manner.
In mid-December, Biotensidon GmbH, a Karlsruhe-based subsidiary of the Swiss firm Biotensidon International AG, announced a breakthrough in the mass production of rhamnolipid surfactants.
Surgical suture material or drug-releasing stents are coated with substrates that release active agents or allow for better adhesion of biomolecules and cells. The film is applied using a special technique known as Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD), involving gas-phase coatings. In CVD polymerisation, the initial compounds are evaporated, activated at high temperature and deposited onto surfaces where they polymerise.
Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT Biomedical from the town of Sulzbach have discovered that alginate appears to be the ideal breeding ground for the propagation of pluripotent stem cells. The two types of algae are known as Lessonia trabeculata and Lessonia nigrescens and grow on Chile’s coasts. For the drug tests of the future, the pharma industry and medical research needs large quantities of pluripotent stem cells.
Dagmar Köhler-Repp was in her mid-twenties when she took the brave step into self-employment. Immediately after completing her studies, the graduate founded the veterinary vaccine company Ripac-Labor. What began as a one-person operation in the basement of her parents' apartment in Berlin in 2001 is now a high-tech company based in Science Park Potsdam-Golm. In 2014, the successful businesswoman and mother of two was named Brandenburg Entrepreneur of the Year.