Life Sciences

Life sciences are highly relevant to society and cover a wide range of areas. They address the major challenges of our time and are not only research-driven, but also strongly application-oriented, with enormous significance for health, the environment, agriculture, and industry. Life sciences are therefore a highly dynamic field that significantly shapes and advances both research and industrial applications through interdisciplinary collaboration and technological innovations. Fraunhofer FEP offers a wide range of technologies and processes for innovative solutions in key life sciences disciplines such as biotechnology, medicine and medical technology, pharmacy, agricultural, nutritional, and environmental sciences.

The life sciences research and development work carried out by Fraunhofer FEP is characterized by the establishment of gentle, chemical-free, and sustainable processes. The wide range of applications, from medical technology and biotechnology to environmental technology, is made possible by the versatility and scalability of the core competencies in electron beam and plasma technology. Synergies with biotechnological processes lead to the development of new hybrid technologies.

Fraunhofer FEP sees itself as a platform that can combine comprehensive technological expertise with application-relevant evaluation scenarios for medical technology and biotechnology issues through its biomedical laboratory unit consisting of microbiology, cell biology, and bioanalytics in accordance with QM guidelines (DIN ISO 9001). This enables interdisciplinary and industry-oriented research and development for a wide range of life science applications.   

We look forward to working with you to evaluate how we can qualify our technologies and processes  for your research and development requirements. Interdisciplinary collaborations play a central and indispensable role in the development of innovative solutions at Fraunhofer FEP, especially in life science applications.

Hygiene technologies – cleaning, disinfection, sterilization

A typical example of applied life sciences, where biological, technical, and medical knowledge work together to ensure health and safety:

• Planning, consulting, training
  • On-site workshop for qualified condition analysis
  • Support in the procurement of new and replacement equipment
  • Complete planning of production-integrated cleaning concepts
  • Customized in-house training
• Technology development
  • Conducting feasibility studies
  • Developing customer-specific cleaning solutions
  • Component cleaning with liquid media
  • Construction of customer-specific cleaning modules and pilot plants
  • Development of electron beam-based sterilization concepts to reduce the potential for infection, e.g., in elderly care, hospitals, laboratories, and public institutions
  • Gentle sterilization of thermolabile materials
  • Packaging sterilization
  • Hygiene in clinical sanitary areas
  • Electron beam technology and plasma technology for adaptive process development
  • Plasma-based processes and plasma-activated liquids
  • UV treatment
• Analytics
  • Comprehensive laboratory analytics and mobile process analytics
  • Development of concepts for integrated product and process analytics
  • Real-time detection of biofilms and contamination

Antimicrobial surface treatment

Development of antibacterial and antiviral coating systems that can prevent the colonization of pathogens, for example:

• Antimicrobial and germ-reducing surface coatings
• Surface-selective functionalization using electron beam-assisted coating technology (grafting) for plastics or textiles without additional chemical crosslinking agents, using biopolymers or bio-based substances
• Prevention and inactivation of biofilms
• Embedding of silver or copper particles (e.g., nanoparticles) for antimicrobial effect
• Photocatalytic coatings such as titanium dioxide (TiO₂) using sputter technology
• Sensory coating systems

UV-activated surface funcionalization for hygiene applications

A particularly critical cause of infection transmission in hospitals is the formation of biofilms in siphons located at the sink in patient rooms. When water enters the siphon, splash water and subsequent formed aerosols can release pathogens into the room and transmit them to patients and nursing staff. Even if the siphon is cleaned regularly and intensively, it is impossible to prevent the formation of biofilms in the siphon.

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Processing of biological tissue

Novel patented process called SULEEI (stabilization and sterilization (S) by photo-initiated ultraviolet cross-linking (U) with low-energy electron beam (LEEI)) developed for the treatment of decellularized biological tissue:

• Processing and modification of biological tissue for medical devices
• Cross-linking and final sterilization of tissue transplants without cytotoxic residues
• Adaptive surface-sensitive sterilization of biological implant materials
• Cell-sparing electron beam sterilization of living materials
• Processing of pericardial tissue (heart sac), use as patch material in cardiac and vascular surgery or for biological heart valve prostheses
• Integration capability into existing manufacturing processes

Biofunctional surfaces for implants and medical instruments

Low-energy, non-thermal electron beam technology is an effective tool for selective surface modification:

• Optimization of the biocompatibility of plastic surfaces such as silicone or PUR
• Introduction of specific wetting properties with biological media such as (super)hydrophilicity
• Development of transparent, conductive, and photocatalytic coatings for medical devices
• Reduction of biocorrosion and abrasion 
  
• Electron beam-assisted coating and cross-linking of implant materials to protect against biodegradation 
• Development of selective wound healing materials
• Development of active material composites for loosening-free implants
• Insulation layers for pacemaker electrodes
• Optical coatings for optical filters
• Functionalized coating of packaging

Tissue preparation for biological prostheses

Tissue preparation for biological prostheses – especially for heart valve prostheses – is a technological innovative process incorporating the Electron Beam Technology as core competency of Fraunhofer FEP.

Textile functionalization for hygienic applications

Safety is one of the basic needs of a human being. This also includes protection against bacteria and viruses which are carriers of infectious diseases. For this reason, scientists of the Fraunhofer Society joined together and formed a consortium to functionalize textiles with germicidal features. These textiles can be used in a mouth and nose protection.

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Low-energy, non-thermal electron beam processes are a groundbreaking replacement for chemical-free vaccine production through application-specific electron beam-assisted inactivation processes for viruses and cells. In contrast to chemical methods, antigen preservation remains very high:

• Electron beam-assisted inactivation of solids, liquids, packaging
• Chemical-free electron beam-assisted vaccine production
• Cancer therapeutics
• Inactivation of bacteria and parasites
• Inactivation of highly infectious blood samples
• Inactivation of pharmaceutical or hospital wastewater to break down hormones, antibiotics, herbicides, and pesticides as an important contribution to environmental pharmacology and the reduction of environmental pollutants
• Sterilization and disinfection of pharmaceuticals

Electron beam technology for the treatment of liquids on bioreactors

Electrons can be helpful in many industrial areas. At Fraunhofer FEP we have used our extensive experience to effectively treat even small quantities of liquids with electrons in compact systems. The initial idea was to gently inactivate viruses and bacteria for the production of inactivated vaccines. Examples of inactivated vaccines include ones against influenza and hepatitis A. Our inactivation technology with electrons eliminates the need to use toxic chemicals. This ensures fast, highly reproducible and effective vaccine production.

Electron beam based inactivation of viruses and bacteria for vaccine production ELVIRA

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The R&D activities are aimed at establishing sustainable electron beam processes and environmentally friendly technologies for a wide range of applications with regard to resource conservation, recycling, and the development of new raw material sources:

• Biostimulation of microorganisms and cells: Investigation of the biopositive effect of accelerated electrons on microorganisms and cells. Low-dose electrons can have a biostimulating effect
  • Increasing the effectiveness of bioleaching (biological leaching processes)
  • Biogenic limestone extraction with phototrophic microorganisms, e.g., for sustainable building materials
  • More efficient biological purification in aquaculture systems (RAS)
• Water treatment and wastewater treatment
• Electron beam-assisted decontamination of seeds and herbs
• Development of innovative electron beam systems: bioreactor system with coupled electron beam, miniaturized electron beam sources (hybrid technology)
• Exhaust gas treatment
• Recycling of biomass

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