Category: Press release

Eurostars project “SoftKollP: the first portable biosensor for quantitative field monitoring of anthropogenic contaminants in the environment”

Recently, our Eurostars project “SoftKollP: the first portable biosensor for quantitative field monitoring of anthropogenic contaminants in the environment” started.

Together with our partners HiSS Diagnostics GmbH (lead, Freiburg and Leipzig) and ECTICA TECHNOLOGIES AG (Zurich), we aim at bringing to the market the SoftKollP technology, as the first highly sensitive technology for fast, easy-to-use, cheap and quantitative point-of use monitoring of anthropogenic contaminants in the environment and agricultural sector. The SoftKollP technology is based on soft hydrogel microparticles and was invented at Leipzig University and TU Dresden. As the market entry product line, we will develop SoftKollP for the critically discussed and widely distributed herbicide glyphosate and its persistent degradation product AMPA.

Rebecca Graul (HiSS) and Benjamin Simon (CEO ECTICA) visited Prof. Tilo Pompe’s lab this week to learn from PhD student Veronika Riedl how soft hydrogel microparticles are produced.
From left to right: Prof. Tilo Pompe, Dr. Benjamin Simona, Rebecca Graul and Veronika Riedl.

Creative Day – DNA Origami

It’s amazing what you can do with DNA origami!

At the “Creative Day”, organized by the start-up initiative #SMILE and the #Research and Transfer Center for Bioactive Matter at Leipzig University, an interdisciplinary team used creativity techniques to develop inspiring product and business ideas. Our junior research group leader Dr. Henri Franquelim now wants to implement these with his team and bring them into the application.

Dr. Henri Franquelim discussing with participants. Photo: SMILE/ Gundula von Fintel 
Result

Scientists develop new thermofluidic process for lab-on-a-chip applications

Researchers at Leipzig University have succeeded in moving tiny amounts of liquid at will by remotely heating water over a metal film with a laser. The currents generated in this way can be used to manipulate and even capture tiny objects. This will unlock groundbreaking new solutions for nanotechnology, the manipulation of liquids in systems in tiny spaces, or in the field of diagnostics, by making it possible to detect the smallest concentrations of substances with new types of sensor systems. In an article recently published in the high-impact journal “Nature Communications”, Martin Fränzl and Professor Frank Cichos of the Faculty of Physics and Earth Sciences at Leipzig University describe how this was achieved.

Go to the press release of Leipzig University

New measurement method to accelerate development of multiple recyclable plastics

Although biodegradable plastic alternatives to PET are now available, they have so far represented a niche product. When it comes to requirements such as mechanical and thermal stability, use as a moisture barrier and durability, they can only be used to a limited extent for many applications. However, it is precisely these desired properties that make the ever-growing mountains of plastic waste and the associated environmental pollution one of the greatest challenges of our time. Therefore, in addition to strategies for plastic waste avoidance, recycling processes are becoming increasingly important. Scientists at the University of Leipzig have now developed a measuring method that is intended to accelerate the development of plastics that can be recycled several times. The results have now been published in the journal “ACS Catalysis”, one of the most renowned journals on the subject of biocatalysis/enzymes.

 

To the press release of the Universtät Leipzig

Funding in the millions for the Transfer Centre for Biohybrid Functional Materials

The transfer „Centre for Biohybrid Functional Materials” will be established at the University of Leipzig in the next few years. Its aim is to transfer the latest scientific findings even faster into innovations for companies in the Central German region affected by structural change. For the establishment of the transfer centre within the new interfaculty ”Centre for Bioactive Matter″ (b-ACTmatter), the university will receive more than 3 million euros over the next four years from the federal programme ″STARK – Strengthening the Transformation Dynamics and Departure in the Coalfields and at Coal-fired Power Plant Sites”, in which the Free State of Saxony is also involved. In addition, with the help of the federal government and the Free State, around 134,000 euros could be invested in the equipment infrastructure in advance this year in order to quickly advance the development of the centre.

Learn more