Bioeconomy

Article - 05/04/2009

JOTEC – artificial blood vessel specialist

JOTEC GmbH a medical device company based in Hechingen has a broad range of solutions on offer for the therapy of vascular diseases including artificial blood vessels and stentgrafts and is an international leader in this field. The company not only produces traditional vascular grafts from high-quality plastics but also absorbable bioartificial vascular grafts and cell-coated grafts made from biomaterials. Such an approach is currently unique in…

Article - 04/02/2009

“Fermentative production of succinic acid” project on the way

Succinic acid could well become an important raw material for the plastics industry if it is possible to produce the acid biotechnologically and cost-effectively. A research project focusing on the biotechnological production of succinic acid under the leadership of BASF SE has now been granted funding by the German Ministry of Education and Research.

Article - 14/01/2009

GEHR Kunststoffwerk – new applications for bioplastics

GEHR Kunststoffwerk GmbH & Co. KG, founded in 1932 and owned by the Gehr family ever since, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of semi-finished thermoplastics. The company’s headquarters are in Mannheim.

Press release - 16/12/2008

The Biopolymers / Biomaterials Cluster

BIOPRO Baden-Württemberg GmbH’s Biopolymers/Biomaterials Cluster was one of five clusters to come out top in the German BioIndustrie Competition in 2007. The BMBF will provide a total of 10 million euros in funding for the implementation of the proposal from 2007 to 2021.

Cells are like factories only smaller Tiny machines assemble large proteins from very small molecules. But where do the machines come from? Researchers at the University of Würzburg have now found an answer to this question.

Press release - 14/10/2008

ARBOCAR project to develop natural materials for cars

Seven BiopolymersBiomaterials Cluster partners from industry and research are joining forces to develop a new natural material based on lignin a natural material found predominantly in wood.

Press release - 13/10/2008

Nature as chemical factory

The fact that petrol is becoming more and more expensive has a knock-on effect on the chemical industry. At Biotechnica 2008 Fraunhofer researchers showed how chemical products can be produced from rape whey and crab shells.

Prof. Dr. Harald Krug a toxicologist who runs the Materials-Biology Interaction division at Empa - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research in St. Gallen Switzerland and his team are investigating the interactions of synthetic materials with biological systems. The team of 25 researchers is focusing in particular on the effect of particles and nanomaterials such as CNT on human and animal cells. The division has been an…

Whether it be syringes biodegradable joint screws or cannules for catheters - hospitals prefer high quality plastics that are not too costly. Pfaff GmbH from Waldkirch has the know-how and the technical ability to manufacture such plastics parts.

Since the end of July 2008 the Biomaterials laboratory of the Empa in St. Gallen has been an official member of the BioLAGO BioRegion. We talked with Dr. Manfred Zinn about how the researchers find materials with the desired properties.

Layers of plastic much thinner than a strand of hair are of enormous interest to scientists and engineers. A team of researchers led by Prof. Stefan Mecking from Constance University has now developed a new method to produce wafer-thin layers.

The medium-sized company of Jürgen Pfitzer and Helmut Nägele received first prize of the Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken banks for the development of ARBOFORM a thermoplastic material.

Press release - 07/04/2008

Bacteria for the production of better plastics

Nylon made by bacteria high-tech plastics from the bioreactor the BiopolymersBiomaterials cluster has plans to combine biotechnology with polymer technology and hence boost innovation in traditional industries such as the chemical and automobile industries.

The database contains information that is important for plastics manufacturers. The database also includes data about commerically available biopolymers with the raw materials and practical value of the biopolymers being the most important factors.

A software developed by the Stuttgart-based Systemhaus Schegel covers all activities related to administering cultures it guarantees the foolproof production and propagation of plants and when printed out on a thermal printer incorporates all the necessary information on a barcode label.