Technology Offers

Metal-insulator-metal (MIM) diodes are very promising for application as rectennas for solar energy harvesting, photo-detectors and high frequency mixers. Good MIM diode performance requires a high asymmetry, a strong nonlinearity, a large responsively, as well as a low resistance or a high on-current. These figures of merit are mainly determined by the work function difference of the electrodes, and the barrier height between the insulator and the electrode materials. In the design of MIM diodes, ...

Reversible adhesion can be used to transfer or to manipulate objects. Especially if the objects are small and/or fragile their manipulation become very challenging. Intermolecular forces such as Van-der-Waals can be used to achieve a strong adhesion between the objects. Moreover, surface functionalization and the creation of nano- and microstructures can be used to improve these adhesion properties. Unfortunately, the adhesion becomes insufficient if the surfaces are wet or rough. Another problems ...

The invention relates to a Monte-Carlo program implemented in Fortran 90. It treats the bombardment of incident ions on different target structures such as mono-atomic targets, layer structures or composition target structures. The two general cases considered in the code are the static case, where the target composition is fixed during the simulation, and the dynamic case, where modifications of the target caused by the ion bombardment are taken into account. Prospectively, further developments ...

UV-B radiation is a major damaging agent causing damage to plants, tissues and human or animal skin upon exposure. To persist strong UV-B radiation plants produce additional antioxidant sunscreen pigments that belong to the chemical compound family of phenylpropanoids. Since many conventional compounds with sunscreen protection potential do not enter the market due to toxic side effects or they bear the risk to become environmental pollutants when accumulating in natural resources, application ...

Fibrosis is the excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix that leads to destruction of the tissue architecture and consequently organ failure. In the developed world, an estimated 45 % of all deaths resulted from severe fibrotic diseases. A wide range of chronic diseases are able to induce fibrosis such as hepatitis, pulmonary disease, scleroderma and cancer. Current therapies for fibrosis are limited and of low efficacy. Further research on fibrosis is required to understand disease progression ...

In contrast to target-based drug discovery, phenotypic screening discloses the effect of a compound on a biological system without revealing its mode of action or its interaction sites. Phenotypic screening has delivered several new valuable drugs, however, the major challenge remains target deconvolution (1). In recent years, “omics” techniques and bioinformatics have brought significant advances to target identification in drug discovery phenotypic screening. However, such analyses can become ...

The study of mechanical properties of materials at high temperatures at the microstructural length scale requires dedicated testing setups. An accurate measurement of the sample temperature is vital for reliable testing. Most of the successful current testing platforms record the temperatures of the sample and tip near the heating sources but not at the respective surface. As a consequence, due to spatial and temporal thermal gradients a reliable surface temperature cannot be measured today. Even ...

Conventional mechanical zippers find manifold applications for luggage, clothing or even industrial applications. However, their design features significant disadvantages. In particular, they require the use of both hands by the user to align the ends of the garment and lock the insertion pin into the slider. This mechanism can be prone to jamming and failure and more generally requires the user to free his or her hands. The user must further use one or both hands to move the slider along the ...

A family of 16-electron binary Ni(0)-stilbene complexes Ni(^Rstb)₃ as a new class of air-stable Ni(0) (pre)catalysts was developed.

Highly elastic, photocatalytic active, and superhydrophobic films were prepared by self-assembly of TiO₂ nanoparticles driven by crosslinking reactions of PDMS. The photocatalytic activity of the film provides self-cleaning and antibacterial properties when exposed to UV-A light. Substrates of different materials such as glass, PU, and polyester textiles can be easily modified with the film. The corresponding PDMS/TiO₂ film based wound dressings can effectively block leakage ...

Ultrasound is being used in many fields ranging from medical imaging and therapy to non-destructive testing, contact-free particle handling or spatially selective heating in industrial settings. Often, those applications require shaping (including focusing) of an ultrasonic field. Compared to existing transducers with fixed lenses or phased array transducers (PATs) the present invention allows much more sophisticated sound fields to be generated using much simpler and cheaper technology.

The development of the cation channel channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii by Prof. Ernst Bamberg and his colleagues and its application to light-induced modulation of neurons paved the way for the field of optogenetics.
Over time the light-gated cation channel channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) has become an indispensable tool in neuroscience. Based on the pioneering work on ChR2 new variants have emerged, differing in their spectrum of light absorption, their kinetic ...

Since 2000 bioinspired fibrillar dry adhesives have been studied intensively culminating in commercial products already available on the market. Currently known fibrillar adhesives are fully wetted by oils, leading to significantly decreased adhesion and friction performance. Therefore, a high demand exists for reversible dry fibrillar adhesives that can repel oil-like liquids and adhere strongly to surfaces wetted by them.

To meet the aforementioned challenges, an extraordinary fibrillar ...

A lightweighted,  long-life, long-range and low-cost Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)-based tracking system with monitoring app.

Carbon fixation is arguably the most important biochemical processes on earth, supporting our biosphere by transforming inorganic carbon into organic matter and literally feeding all life forms. The reductive pentose phosphate cycle (rPP, also known as the Calvin–Benson–Bassham Cycle) is responsible for ≥95% of the carbon fixed in the biosphere. Although under a strong selective pressure for eons, this process displays major inefficiencies, some are due to the low catalytic rate and the ...

CellNetAnalyzer (CNA) is a MATLAB toolbox providing various computational methods for analyzing structure and function of metabolic, signaling, and regulatory networks. For metabolic networks, CNA supports a variety of stoichiometric and constraint-based modeling techniques, including flux balance analysis (FBA), metabolic flux analysis, elementary-modes analysis, or computational strain design (e.g., minimal cut set analysis). Signal transduction and (gene) regulatory networks can be ...

New therapeutic targets for plasmacytoid dendritic cell (pDC)-related autoimmune diseases like lupus, which in an combinatorial treatment reduce dose-specific toxicitiy effects.

Prof. Kai Sundmacher and co-workers at the MPI for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems developed a novel core-shell catalyst design with a highly active catalyst core surrounded by an inert, low-permeability shell. The new catalyst design leads to an intrinsic heat management that avoids hotspots in strongly exothermic reactions. This allows faster reactor start-up and shut-down and makes the catalysts suitable for rapid load changes in discontinuous processes.

Prof. Klaus-Richard Pörschke and co-workers from the MPI for Coal Research developed a highly hydrophobic perfluoroaryl borate (FAB) ligand for trapping the radioative 134/137 Cs isotopes with 100% specificity. The novel approach could improve the decontamination of humans compared to the administration of so called insouble Prussian blue currently in use.

Light microscopy enables fascinating insights into the microcosm of life. It is one of the key techniques in life science and provides access to a better understanding of biology across many orders of magnitude in time and space. The use of visible light allows for minimally invasive imaging - even of living cells - and direct observation with the human eye. However, the use of visible light limits the resolution of the image obtained to about half the wavelength of the used light. The limiting ...

A novel molecular target of the semaphorin-plexin system to develop treatment options for cancer and for osteoporosis.

The invention relates to a new method to reduce acquisition time in MR imaging. It is based on the variation of the sensitivity profile of the RF coils and allows an easy access to an additional source of spatial information to further improve imaging.
MR imaging is among the most important tools for modern medical diagnostics with a unique range of applications. The imaging duration however limits the applicability for situations with movements within the volume of interest. Therefore, many ...

The invention relates to an innovative detector concept for the identification of analytes in a gas that is extremely versatile and yet easy to construct and to operate. The superior properties were reached by an optical readout system for electrical signal of multiple detector cells.

Detecting and quantifying concentrations of analytes of interest is usually achieved using materials that change their electrical properties upon exposure. As different materials combined in one sensor need ...

The invention relates to a new method for imaging setting optimization for electron microscopy
based on deep learning. The AI is a robust and simple to implement optimization possibility for
direct operation with various types of electron microscopes.

For a wide spectrum of applications automated precision electron microscopy is a powerful
method. Existing auto focusing routines are often based on physical models of the microscope
and are hence lacking general applicability ...

The invention relates to a new and durable system, which brings the possibility of accurate size measuring and simultaneous counting of airborne particles with an aerodynamic diameter of up to 2.5 microns.

Measuring the particulate matter contamination in a gas in the range of PM_2.5 is advantageous or crucial for various applications. Monitoring the concentration of the corresponding particles, for example in air, reveals information about pollution. The possibility of aerosol ...

Prof. Klaus-Richard Pörschke and co-workers at the MPI for Coal Research developed a novel cyclic process for the quantitative extraction of cesium with 100% selectivity from any given aqueous or acidic solution, irrespective of the other components.

The development of the cation channel channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii by Prof. Ernst Bamberg and his colleagues, and its application to light-induced modulation of neurons paved the way for the field of optogenetics.
Over time the light-gated cation channel channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) has become an indispensable tool in neuroscience. Based on the pioneering work on ChR2 new variants have emerged, differing in their spectrum of light absorption, their kinetic ...

Fusion Tags Comprising Ubiquitin-like Modifiers and Corresponding Proteases For Protein Purification From Selected Eukaryotic Expression Hosts

The invention relates to a new method for processing magnetic resonance (MR) data based on a neural network (NN). After training, the NN quickly delivers high quality CEST images with low computational effort. Additionally, it provides uncertainty data aiding to judge the images appropriately.

Typically, sophisticated MR contrasts are calculated based on complex mathematical models, which is computationally expensive, and it requires long processing durations. Besides that, the results ...

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is nowadays a leading mo¬dality for diagnostic imaging with about 100 million examinations per year worldwide. However, when invented by Paul Christian Lauterbur in 1973, MRI was too slow to allow for routine medical applications. A breakthrough was achieved in 1985 by the FLASH (Fast Low Angle Shot) technique developed by Jens Frahm and his team at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany. With FLASH the measuring time for a cross-sectional ...

An accurate dispensing device for powders and irregularly shaped particles

The RNA-programmable DNA-endonuclease Cas9 is widely used for genome engineering, where a high degree of specificity is required. Though this is a mechanism well controlled by canonical base-pairing, there is evidence that Cas9 does accept mismatches under certain circumstances.
This might be seen as a threat to precision needed in genome engineering at least in environments where such high precision is ultimately needed and acceptance of mismatches needs to be avoided, e.g.: cellular gene ...

Connectase is an enzyme that fuses target proteins or synthetic compounds via a small recognition tag, using a different reaction mechanism compared to known protein ligases. It prevents side reactions entirely and has absolute specificity, even in highly in complex solutions with minimum concentrations of target molecules.

We offer a new simple and low cost technology to fabricate graphene-encapsulated metal or metal compound nanoparticles. The resulting hybrid nanoparticles are protected by granted substance claims in US, CN, TW and EP (DE, FR, GB, BE). Currently the patent protected graphene coated nano particles are discussed as high performance electrode materials in the lithium ion battery business (for example Samsung's "Graphene Balls").

The invention relates to a new method of producing SnTiO3 for the use as a ferroelectric element. Tin titanates are known to be a class with various properties making it promising for many applications. The preparation of this material beyond thin films remained challenging.

Tin(II) oxide has a low disproportionation temperature of 350°C but the preparation of new materials is usually conducted at higher temperatures. Therefore, bulk SnTiO3 is not possible to be produced using existing ...

An innovative high throughput screening method for measurement of RNA- and DNA-polymerase activity at room temperature, based on time-resolved FRET.

The invention relates to a new and easy to use device for real-time monitoring of the thermal power of a nuclear reactor. It is based on the easy to access ¹⁶N decay rate in the cooling water. The robust and easy to implement method significantly improves the safety of nuclear facilities.

Nuclear reactors require high standards of safety and detailed information about changes are needed in order to control them in a safe manner. Besides detailed real-time simulations, direct ...

A laser device (100), configured for generating laser pulses, has a laser resonator (10) with a gain disk medium (11) and a Kerr medium (12). The laser resonator (10) includes a first mode shaping section (13) which is adapted for shaping a circulating electric field coupled into the gain disk medium (11), and a second mode shaping section (14), which is adapted for shaping the circulating electric field coupled into the Kerr medium (12) independently of the electric field shaping in the first ...

The LITESEC-T3SS (Light-induced translocation of effectors through sequestration of endogenous components of the T3SS) system represents a novel, fast, specific, and reversible method to control protein secretion into eukaryotic cells, enabling various medicinal and biotechnological applications, such as targeted drug delivery for tumor therapy.

The efficiency of solar cells is strongly affected by local inhomogeneities. Especially inhomogeneities of the dark-current voltage (I-V) characteristic are of interest: The local dark current-voltage characteristic is a measure for the local recombination properties of the solar cell. Lock-in thermography performed in the dark (DLIT) can be used to detect and evaluate locally increased dark current densities.

The present invention relates to a method of generating pulsed coherent radiation in the UV and XUV wavelength ranges. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a radiation source for generating pulsed coherent radiation based on a high harmonic generation (HHG).

The invention relates to a new method for an improved production of random numbers and verification of their randomness. In order to do so, it uses the quantum mechanical properties of microscopic particles and structures. A number sequence is generated by means of a repetitive quantum mechanical random process. The measurement of this process is performed by a homodyndetection of an optical input signal, where the signal interferes with a local oscillator, e.g. a laser, at a central beam splitter ...

Errors in super-resolution microscopy (SRM) can be identified with pairs of emitters that have fixed and precisely known relative positions. Such reference and calibration structures are exceedingly rare on the nanoscale. Here, Nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond (NVs) offer a formidable solution. These fluorescent defects are photo-stable and due to the excellent properties of their brilliant host, do not diffuse and are resilient against temperature or chemical environment changes.

On ...

Biological fixation of CO₂ is an important process carried out by plants and several microorganisms, which can be harnessed for sustainable, biobased production of fuels and chemicals. Particularly, the fixation of CO₂ by autotrophic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria and microalgae can be employed for converting CO₂ into value-added products, such as commodity chemicals or fuels. However, the sustainable autotrophic production ...

A scalable and easy to handle method for the creation of larger (up to square meters) low light level detectors is disclosed. While the fast read-out times of a single detector is kept, the area covered by the detector ensemble (dramatically) increases. The large area is enabled by transversal connection of hybrid “base cells”. These “base cells” consist of vertically stacked tiers of (i) a detector array, (ii) a first level electronic read-out, and (iii) and a second level read-out which ...

A novel tool to detect and quantify NETs using a molecular feature of NET formation that has never been proposed as a marker for NETs before

Exploiting the benefits offered by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at ultra-high fields (≥ 7 Tesla) requires optimized radiofrequency (RF) coils. MRI at UHF operates in a regime where the RF wavelength is comparable to the dimensions of the sample size, resulting in an inhomogeneous distribution of the transmit field (B₁⁺) and in an impaired image quality. An array of independent transmit coils arranged in multiple rows provides the degrees of freedom to influence the ...

We offer a new family of cationic ligands, namely N-alkyl/aryl pyridiniophosphines. The ligands can be synthesized through a short, scalable, and highly modular route.

Evaluation of their electronic properties evidenced weak σ-donor and quite strong π-acceptor character when used as ancillary ligands.

The invention relates to a new concept for a high efficiency light antenna, namely the Truncated Omnidirectional Reflector (TOR). It is well suited for obtaining directional emission and efficient fiber coupling from various types of light sources like single photon emitters.
Especially in the fast-growing field of quantum technologies efficient collectors for solid-state single photon emitters are needed. Achieving collector efficiencies of more than 95% into the fundamental Gaussian mode, ...

A promising target to develop treatment options for osteoporosis and other disease conditions associated with bone loss

myNK cells are a novel myeloid NK subpopulation showing a unique expression pattern with the promise to treat obesity-associated pathologies such as cancer and diabetes. They could be detected in several different tumor tissues and a selective targeting of the upregulated myeloid markers might open the door for immunotherapy as a treatment option of certain obesity-associated cancer entities, obesity and diabetes.

A classical spin valve (SV) is a device in which the electrical resistance depends on the relative position of the magnetic moments of two ferromagnetic (FM) layers: with parallel (P) and antiparallel (AP) ordering, the SV resistance is minimum and maximum, respectively. Nowadays SVs are actively used in magnetic sensors, hard disk read heads and magnetic random-access memory. Thus, the SV, analogous to a transistor in conventional electronics, is a binary (digital) device. Here we offer a new ...

New biomarker candidates for diagnostic sub-classification of AML patients with elevated expression of mitochondrial proteins and subsequent targeted therapy with BCL-2 inhibitors like venetoclax and/or agents targeting mitochondrial complex I

Plant pathogenic fungi, oomycetes and bacteria have highly diverse lifestyles, infection strategies and morphologies. Therefore, pesticides frequently target basic cellular processes, as these are well characterized and often very similar among plant pathogens. Many pesticides target enzymes that play a role in e.g. nucleic acid synthesis, respiration, cell division and other essential cellular processes. However, the molecular ...

Carbohydrates form one of the major classes of biological macromolecules in living organisms, but structural analysis and the quality control of carbohydrate structures represent a major challenge due to the frequent occurrence of isomers that are difficult to distinguish using established techniques.

Changes in protein glycosylation are frequently identified in the context of diseases. For example, alterations in N-glycan profiles from blood plasma have been found to correlate with pathological ...

For the evaluation of crystallisation processes, process parameters like temperature and concentration can be easily measured. However, to measure the crystal size distribution continuously is a challenging task.
Different methods relaying on back scattering or reflection of monochromatic light can be applied that yield chord-length distributions, which often deviate from the actual crystal or particle size distribution. For analysing the true crystal dimensions and, additionally, the crystal ...

The mRNA processing factor YBX1 is a novel target in Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), which in an combinatorial inhibitor treatment with JAK inhibitors completely overcomes disease persistance.

A process for parallel synthesis of glycans on cellulose membranes by using a novel VaporSPOT method and an experimental setup that ensures controlled conditions suitable for glycosylation reactions.

One of biotechnology’s central goals is the synthesis of multicarbon compounds under mild and sustainable conditions from renewable resources. This requires biocatalysts and methods that enable selective C-C bond formation (carboligation) between two carbon units.

Moreover, optically active compounds can be used for optically resolving agents of medical or agriculture supplies such as 2-amino-1-butanol which is a starting material of the antituberculous drug ethambutol, diltiazem hydrochloride ...

Fluorescent dyes are widely used as indispensable markers in biology, optical microscopy, and analytical chemistry. In particular, the sensitive and stable imaging of cellular components depends on the favourable combination of chemical, biological and physical factors. The availability and proper choice of fluorescent dyes is a key factor to success in the entire labelling and imaging procedure. Due to their superior brightness and photostability, synthetic dyes represent an attractive alternative ...

A computer-implemented method that allows calculating concentration ranges of components within complex networks of biochemical reactions.

X-ray Detector Software for processing single-crystal monochromatic diffraction data recorded by the rotation method.

Speckle interferometry is an established metrology technique for the characterization of rough objects. Deformations of rough objects under a load can be determined, as well as – with the help of an additional second wavelength – the surface shape of the object under test. As an illustration, Figure 1 (left) shows the so called raw phase as a result of a deformation measurement on a metal plate. The shape and the density of the fringes indicate the response of the metal plate to the load.
Owing ...

We present a sensor for the carrier-envelope phase of a few-cycle femtosecond laser. The sensor uses the electron current emitted from a nanoscale metal tip onto which we focus high-repetition-rate laser pulses.

Possible applications of this sensor are in the field of the technique of controlling and using pulse lasers, in particular used for measuring or high-power irradiation purposes.

The size of such a simple stand-alone sensor device for the carrier-envelope phase could be in ...

A simple, one-step assay for reliable measurements of NAD(H) and NADP(H) in complex samples, with various applications such as enzymatic assays, clinicals tests, and as point of care tests in the field of ageing.

The invention relates to a new and improved concept for Depleted p-channel Field Effect Transistors (DePFET) detectors that provides a significantly higher intrinsic amplification. By the extension of the transistor layout, former limitations were overcome.
DePFETs are insufficient for many applications in terms of the achievable intrinsic amplification. This is since shorter transistor channels needed for high amplification would increase the detector noise caused by impact ionization events.
Additional ...

Im Zuge der stetigen Weiterentwicklung und Nachfrage auf dem Gebiet der minimal invasiven Chirugie wurde am Max-Planck-Institut für intelligente Systeme in Stuttgart im Team von Herrn Prof Sitti für patientenfreundliche Magen-Darm-Untersuchungen ein kabelloses kapselförmiges Endoskop in Pillengröße, das sogenannte "B-MASCE" entwickelt. Die aus einem Elastomer bestehende Kapsel dient hierbei sowohl als Gehäuse als auch als Federelement für die Nadel. Über in der Kapsel eingebaute Magnete ...

The ability of hypervalent iodine compounds to act as electrophilic group-transfer reagents has been extensively exploited during the last several years in a variety of synthetically useful transformations
like cyanations and alkynylations. Now it was found, that novel imidazolium sulfuranes, which are isolobal to I(III) species and also depict the key threecenter four-electron bond motive, can be used as an alternative platform for the development of new electrophilic group-transfer reagents.

Imidazolium ...

Novel gas exchange membranes based on superamphiphobic coatings applied on metal meshes were created and tested in different applications, like gas scrubbing and blood oxygenation.
By using the novel membrans drawbacks of traditional membranes - like insufficient wetting, plugging and depositions chemical incompatibility and temperature instability - can be avoided.

An apparatus and method allowing high throughput collection of X-ray diffraction data at room temperature.

The presented technology offers an enhanced streaming rendering pipeline that enables the display of high fidelity, high framerate and high solution for noval views in real time on thin lightweight HMDs suitable especially for VR experiences.

How does it work?

The key idea of this technology is based on a novel algorithm for Potentially Visible Set (PVS) creation: the camera offset space (COS), which for a given point on the image plane provides information under which camera ...

The invention relates to a new dynamic optical component based on a metasurface that can be operated electrically at visible frequencies. Realizing pixel level addressability of the metasurface properties paves the way towards the next generation of optical devices for data storage and communication.

Nanoantennas on a metasurface are used to directly change properties of light but are typically limited to static effects. However, state-of-the-art devices with optical reconfigurability are ...

We offer the new composite nanomaterial for sodium ion battery cathodes. These carbon-coated nanosized Na₃V₂(PO₄)₃ particles embedded in a highly effective mixed conducting porous carbon matrix can be easily prepared by means of facile soft-chemistry based preparation method with a post heat treatment procedure. The resulting cathodes can be charged and discharged in 6 s with high current density of 22 A/g, deliver the specific capacity of 44 mAh/g and ...

Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) facilitates efficient production of thin films using a laser ablation technique. Targets are selected according to the coating desired. Multiple targets are either moved mechanically to the incidence area, or they are fixed so that the laser beam is alternatively focused on each of them. Multiple targets are, however, known to cause discontinuities, whereas single multicomponent target usually doesn’t ensure compositional homogeneity. The technology presented here ...

In arid and semiarid regions biological soil crusts (BSC) cover about 1/3 of the soil surface. As far as it is known, these BSC (consisting of cyanobacteria, algae, fungi, bryophytes, and other bacteria living in contact with soil particles) are crucial for the global terrestrial carbon and nitrogen cycle. The water status plays a major role, since their water content directly controls the activity of these poikilohydric organisms.