Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS
Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS

IQ Innovation Award: Projects involving the Fraunhofer IMWS were honored

At the IQ-AWARD event for central Germany, extraordinary innovation projects were honored for the 16th time.

A new method to treat periodontitis and lower-priced materials for fuel cells: Projects in which the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems (IMWS) was involved were honored with the IQ Innovation Award for these results.

The IQ Innovation Award for Central Germany has been awarded for the 16th time. The overall winner, the best projects in the automotive industry, chemistry/ plastics, energy / environmental / solar industry, information technology and life sciences, as well as achievements with a regional focus on Halle, Leipzig and Magdeburg, were honored. 

The Perio Trap Pharmaceuticals GmbH situated in Halle received the overall award (with a prize of 15,000 Euro) and the Life Sciences cluster award (with a prize of 7,500 Euro). The startup offers a gentle but efficient therapy for periodontitis, a bacterial inflammation of the tooth socket, which may result in early tooth loss, among other things, and is very common. The new treatment method is based on an agent that targets harmful bacteria and which can be used locally by means of tiny biodegradable rods – that is, exactly where the inflammation appears.

One aspect of this project was to develop a way to apply the medication locally, that is directly in the gum pocket. These innovative flexible rods were developed in cooperation with the Institute for Pharmaceutics of the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), the University of Bern, the Fraunhofer Institute for Cellular Therapy and Immunology (IZI) and the Fraunhofer IMWS. For this purpose, the Fraunhofer IMWS investigated the adhesive, wetting, and rheological properties of the developed formulas in different test models, such as for the interaction of the rods’ polymer material with the intraoral hard and soft tissues.

Dr. Maria Gaudig, representing the technical group for Microstructure-based Material Design of the Institute for Physics at the MLU, was honored with the IQ Innovation Award (with a prize of 5,000 Euro) of the city of Halle. In collaboration with the Eisenhuth GmbH & Co. KG, her team has engineered innovative bipolar plates for use in fuel cells. These plates are made of plastic powder enhanced with tiny titanium particles. The plates are as effective as previous solutions, but they only require 20 percent of the titanium, making them significantly cheaper and lighter. The Fraunhofer IMWS supported this approach by investigating the titanium composite material‘s microstructure, as well as the electric, mechanical and electrochemical properties. 

»My congratulations to all the winners. The results demonstrate our excellent teamwork with the MLU and show that we are creating extraordinary solutions addressing significant future-oriented issues in central Germany«, said Prof. Matthias Petzold, temporary Head of the Fraunhofer IMWS, of the awards.