Microsystems with new mechanisms of action for pumping, filtering and separating, will reliably process biomedicine and biotech with great efficiency in the future.

Providing reliable evidence of viruses in human blood requires time- and labor-intensive molecular-biological procedures.  While developing new types of micro-pumps without movable parts, scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT came across a stable turbulence structures formed in the microscale pump channels.

The nano- and microparticles  intended to verify the pump effect accumulated in large quantities in the channels. The vortex patterns completely filled the whole microchannel, creating a virtually 100% trap for the particles that followed the generated flow profile, although there is a very large cross-section to flow through.

“The development of flow vortices is nothing unusual on the macroscopic scale. However, in microchannels the flow lines almost run in parallel,” explains Richard Stein from the IBMT. “The question, therefore, was, how is it possible for vortices to be formed from this which were sufficiently stable and effective for the concentration of nanoparticles?”

“My task was to describe the surprising phenomenon and to make it controllable,” he reflects. In his thesis “Mathematical modelling, analysis and numerical simulation of electrothermally driven micropumps,” Stein succeeded in explaining the development of the vortex pattern, factoring in all the relevant processes – of an electrical, thermal and hydrodynamic nature – in a three-dimensional model. He receives the 1st Hugo Geiger Prize for the paper.

Simulation in solar energy
Physicist Marc Steiner from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg has developed a new simulation program that optimises the structure and configuration of the metallic contact fingers. The calculations result in unprecedented efficiency factors for concentrator solar cells and he will be awarded the 2nd Hugo Geiger Prize for his thesis “Minimisation of serial resistance losses in III-V solar cells with the aid of a SPICE network simulation”.

Genes play an important role in every organism, particularly where its development and adaptation to the environment are concerned. Modern sequencing technology means that genomes can now be quickly mapped but it is still unclear which genetic program is running during which phase of growth.  Gene expression – the analysis of which genes are switched on at any given point in time, and which are not – can supply the relevant answers. It helps to differentiate cells, and to understand biological systems on a molecular level.

The thesis on “Global methods for the analysis of metatranscriptions on the single-cell level” by Christian Grumaz from the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB has established a new, straightforward procedure that gets by with small sample quantities and enables high throughput.

The procedure developed is extremely sensitive, which means it could potentially be applied in diagnostics, where biopsy material  is usually only available in small quantities.

A high throughput of samples is also possible, as parallel sequence technologies can be used. The analysis procedure is of interest in drug development, diagnosis, and basic research. Christian Grumaz will be awarded the 3rd Hugo Geiger Prize.