Press Releases

These days, even a “simple” infection can become a deadly threat. Bacteria keep developing new resistances to antibiotics, and presenting the international medical community with a significant problem. There is a desperate need for new medications. The biggest hurdle in developing these new medications is getting them from the laboratory and into clinical trials, bridging the gap from the discovery of new agents to their development by the pharmaceutical industry into potential medications. Now researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM have teamed up with colleagues from the Hannover Medical School (MHH) and Griffith University’s Institute for Glycomics (IfG) in Gold Coast, Australia, in the iCAIR (Fraunhofer International Consortium for Anti-Infective Research) project. They have set themselves the ambitious goal of closing this gap and developing new anti-infective drugs.

Since October 1, 2017, Janis Eitner has been appointed Head of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft's Communications Department. Mr. Eitner is also the press spokesman and reports directly to the President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Prof. Reimund Neugebauer.

Most waste wood today is either used for heating or chipped to produce particle boards. The aim of the EU-funded CaReWood (Cascading Recovered Wood) project is to reuse this secondary raw material several times over – for example in house-building or to make furniture. Fraunhofer researchers have discovered that it is possible to salvage large pieces for wood and recycle them without any loss of quality. The necessary methods for detecting and removing contaminants are being investigated in this project.

Impurities adhering to the surface of components can cause problems in later stages of the production process – or even make the entire component useless. A new fluorescence scanner developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques IPM allows specialists to inspect metallic parts for residues of grease, machining chips and cleaning agents – for every single item in production cycle.

One of the limiting factors for the computing power of processors is the operating temperature. As part of the CarriCool project under the aegis of IBM, Fraunhofer researchers have developed a new, effective cooling method: By integrating microchannels into the silicon interposer it is for the first time possible to cool high-performance processors from the underside as well. As a result, this innovation can achieve a significant increase in performance. Moreover, the scientists have integrated passive components for voltage regulators, photonic ICs and optical waveguides into the interposer.

The internal structure of old musical instruments is of great interest to musicians, restorers, and instrument makers. As part of the MUSICES project, Fraunhofer researchers are using 3D computed tomography methods to examine historical musical instruments belonging to the collection held by the Germanisches Nationalmuseum (GNM). Based on this experience, they are drawing up guidelines for obtaining the best possible images and measurement results. Until now, there has been no standard for such measurements. The results of the project will be published online.

Water is still the most important source of renewable energy in Bavaria, Germany, accounting for some 33 percent of all renewable energy produced in the region, as showed by the Bavarian Energy Map. But conventional hydroelectric plants, especially micro hydro generators, are a subject of controversy due to their low output volumes and their interference with the ecosystem. Fraunhofer researchers are working on an environmentally friendly alternative: in the future, innovative elastomer materials are set to convert the mechanical energy produced by flowing water in small rivers directly into electrical energy.

The threat of terrorism in Europe has been on the rise in recent years, with experts and politicians particularly worried that terrorists might make use of dirty bombs. Fraunhofer researchers have developed a new system that will be able to detect possible carriers of radioactive substances, even in large crowds of people. This solution is one of many defensive measures being realized in the REHSTRAIN project, which is focused on security for TGV and ICE high-speed trains in France and Germany.

It is a known fact that adhesives may smell unpleasant. However, as Fraunhofer researchers have recently discovered, this doesn’t need to be the case. Through extensive research on acrylic adhesives they were able to identify the substances responsible for the offensive odors. So far, very little research has been conducted on the subject, but now manufacturers finally have the opportunity to optimize their production process.

In the EU-funded project SelSus, Fraunhofer scientists are collaborating in a consortium with partners from research and industry to develop maintenance technology capable of forecasting machine downtimes in production before they occur. This allows plant managers to rectify faults before the machine breaks down. The system even corrects some defects automatically.