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The Anniversary Celebration Reception and Dinner was held at the residence of the German Ambassador. 

L to R:  Former Fraunhofer USA President Dirk Polter, President of Fraunhofer USA & Fraunhofer Gesellschaft Prof. Hans-Jörg Bullinger, Dr. Scharioth, Ambassador Scharioth, Fraunhofer USA Executive Vice President Dr. William Hartman and Fraunhofer Gesellschaft Division Director of Corporate Development Dr. Georg Rosenfeld.

The Lennie Cuje Trio performed at the Reception

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  
January 6, 2010

 Delaware business: Newark lab wins vaccine contract

 Fraunhofer to aid federal effort against plague, anthrax
By ANDREW EDER
The News Journal

For years, the http://www.fraunhofer-cmb.org/ Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology has worked to develop potential vaccines for anthrax and plague. Now, the nonprofit Newark research lab is getting government funding to create a single vaccine to protect against both threats.

Fraunhofer said Tuesday that it has received a $5.3 million contract from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, a unit of the Department of Defense tasked with protecting the country from weapons of mass destruction.

The government hopes to find a flexible technology that can quickly produce a large amount of vaccine for biological agents in the event of a terrorist attack. Delaware's congressional delegation visited Fraunhofer, located in the Delaware Technology Park, to announce the contract award.

Fraunhofer Executive Director Vidadi Yusibov said his group has been working on anthrax and plague vaccines for about four years, aided by government grants. Anthrax is an infectious disease that occurs most commonly in animals. Plague is a bacterial disease of rodents that can infect the lymph glands, blood or lungs in humans. Both diseases are rarely seen in humans in the United States but could be deadly as a biological weapon.

With the new contract, Fraunhofer is expected to demonstrate safety and efficacy in animal testing of a one-shot vaccine to protect against both infectious diseases, with the goal of having a product ready for initial testing in humans.

"We're in a range where we have some solid deliverables that we have to make sure we deliver at the end of the contract," Yusibov said.

Fraunhofer has developed a technology to produce vaccines quickly by growing target proteins in tobacco plants. Yusibov said Fraunhofer, which recently opened a new 14,000-square-foot pilot-scale production facility, will look to produce the anthrax and plague vaccines separately and combine them into a single formulation.

The nonprofit lab, which employs close to 100 people, plans to add employees in the areas of process development and clinical development as it moves experimental vaccines into production and clinical testing, Yusibov said. Fraunhofer also is involved in research for vaccines for diseases such as malaria and bird flu.

Since the beginning of 2009, Fraunhofer has received more than $35 million in outside funding from government and foundation sources.

Fraunhofer in Italy

Press Release 21.12.2009

On December 21, 2009, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft established its third subsidiary in Europe: Fraunhofer Italia Research Konsortial-GmbH, domiciled in Bolzano. The South Tyrol Employers’ Association is a partner with the new limited liability company.

The collaboration has already proven its value. Numerous Fraunhofer institutes are collaborating on research projects with partners in Italy. “Italy is one of Europe’s largest national economies, so it is strategically significant as a partner nation,” explains Dr. Georg Rosenfeld, head of the corporate development department at Fraunhofer. “By establishing the Fraunhofer Italia subsidiary, Fraunhofer now has a new platform available which will considerably facilitate the establishment of additional branches in the future." Like the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Germany, Fraunhofer Italia will operate as an umbrella organization for various Fraunhofer Research Institutions.

The first Fraunhofer Research Institution in Italy is the “Fraunhofer Innovation Engineering Center IEC” in Bolzano, which is currently organized by the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO, together with the South Tyrol Employers’ Association and with the support of the Free University of Bolzano. The Center is primarily intended to support the numerous small- to medium-sized enterprises located in the Bolzano region that until now have had almost no access to applied research. “We view ourselves as an interface to the vast array of offerings from the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft,” explains Prof. Dominik Matt, who will assume the management of the new Fraunhofer Center. The mechanical engineer, who earned his doctoral degree under the mentorship of Professor Dieter Spath, head of the IAO, was appointed to the Turin Institute of Technology in 2004, and then to the Faculty for Natural Sciences and Technology of the Free University of Bolzano in 2008.

The Fraunhofer researchers will conduct projects in international and interdisciplinary teams together with scientists from the University of Bolzano and partners from industry. Plans call for the development of a modular construction concept, for example. At the same time, particular emphasis is being placed on cooperation among all participants – from architects to skilled laborers. A universal, digitally-supported process chain will facilitate joint activities, from initial planning to final acceptance of the building.

Another focal point will be the service and tourism industry. A research and demonstration laboratory is currently underway that is intended to exhibit the most modern information and communications technology, and applications for product and services development. This will enable business professionals to learn about new technological systems – such as computer aided design, simulations, virtual reality or human models. If requested, the researchers can also conduct tests in the laboratory to determine whether and to what extent a customer will benefit from integrating the new technology.

Fraunhofer USA 15th Anniversary Celebration October 22 and October 23, 2009 Washington, DC

Fraunhofer USA is celebrating 15 years of research and development in energy, health, coatings, lasers, manufacturing, software and digital media technologies.  Fraunhofer USA marked the occasion with several notable events. 

  • An official Anniversary Seminar was held in Washington, DC, followed by a reception and dinner hosted by Dr. Klaus Scharioth, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany.  In addition, Fraunhofer guests attended a performance at the Kennedy Center.
  • On October 23rd, a Topical Conference was held on the subject of Software Engineering for Medicine and Health, hosted by the Fraunhofer Center for Experimental Software Engineering in College Park, Maryland.

"Fraunhofer USA is proud to be celebrating its 15th anniversary and use this opportunity to bring together some of our sponsors and partners.  Representatives from government, industry and university will be present at our celebration events where we will showcase some of our newest technologies and processes," said Dr. William F. Hartman, Fraunhofer USA Executive Vice President.

German Ambassador Dr. Klaus Scharioth stated: "The USA is Germany's most important partner with respect to scientific and technological cooperation, and Fraunhofer USA plays a very important role in this transatlantic cooperation.  A large number of joint initiatives are successfully carried out in all fields of science and research in Germany and in the United States. I am proud to host Fraunhofer on its anniversary and extend my best wishes for future endeavors."

Diamonds, secure software, medications – at Fraunhofer USA, the research portfolio covers a vast array of topics. Exactly 15 years ago, Germany's Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Europe's largest institution for applied research, established the new subsidiary.  Today six Centers are closely cooperating with top universities in the U.S. to engineer solutions that industry can apply to their everyday business practices. On October 22 Fraunhofer USA celebrated its anniversary in Washington DC.

Picture: Fraunhofer-President Prof. Hans-Jörg Bulliger 

"Can a German organization for applied research be successful in the world's leading economic and scientific market? 15 years ago when Fraunhofer USA was founded we could not be sure.  But now we know the answer: Yes, we can", states Fraunhofer-President Prof. Hans-Jörg Bulliger.  Meanwhile Fraunhofer USA boasts six Centers that collectively generated $30 million in sales last year alone. The Centers collaborate with numerous American research institutions, elite universities among them MIT and Johns Hopkins University.   Also during this period, Fraunhofer USA blossomed into an institution with almost 200 employees.  Together with their contractual partners from industry, they jointly engineer new production techniques, medications and software designs.  And just like their Fraunhofer Institute counterparts in Germany, these Centers stand at the gateway between university-based research and commerce-based practices.  "Our growth has been possible because our partnering Fraunhofer Institutes in Germany recognize the value of our insights into emerging high-tech markets and the quick-path to those markets that result from our collaborations," stated Dr. William Hartman, Fraunhofer USAs Executive Vice President:  "We are proud to be a partner in facilitating important international exchange in both applied research and education."

Powerful Software Analysis Tool: Brainchild of an Excellent Cooperation

An example of successful cooperation has Prof. Rance Cleaveland, director of the Fraunhofer Center for Experimental Software Engineering CESE:  "Defective software can become a costly matter.  While testing NASA communications software, we determined that the transmission of image data from Mercury to the Control Center on Earth would need a third more time than expected, because data was unnecessarily re-transmitted under certain circumstances.  Had this problem not been detected, then the costs of transmissions would have skyrocketed by thousands of dollars."

Error detection became possible through SAVE, the acronym for Software Architecture Visualization and Evaluation.  SAVE was developed by a German-American research team: researchers at Fraunhofer USA are working together with experts from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, as well as with colleagues at the German parent entity, the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE.  "SAVE also displays the software structure of complex programs in an easy-to-read way.  That's important when you want to systematically analyze programs and track errors that could lead to unexpected and undesirable conditions," says Cleaveland.

CESE and IESE meanwhile submitted a joint application to patent the new analysis method of SAVE.  The advantages of this software are already delivering profitable benefits to NASA and to the Food and Drug Administration which analyzes the reliability of medical technology, and to the industry partners of the German institute.

Diamonds: Transatlantic collaboration ensure Success

Diamonds are a coveted and precious commodity; therefore, scientists and engineers for years now have been seeking methods to produce them affordably.  Fraunhofer CCL has been developing diamond technology since the 1980's. The group developed plasma machines and processes to efficiently make diamonds from methane and hydrogen gases using chemical vapour deposition.  "It was often the technical details that determined success or failure," Thomas Schuelke of CCL attests. "During the synthesis process, the pressure and temperature conditions have to be set and adjusted with absolute precision. We studied these parameters and then started to automate the manufacturing process.  Ultimately, a new kind of production machine that meets industry standards emerged.  It can finish diamond monocrystals for the jewelry business and for the electronics industry."   Industry partner Lamda Technologies builds and distributes the diamond production machines in the US and world markets.

Together with his work group which includes a growing membership of German graduate students who come to the USA for six months to familiarize themselves with the country, people and work ethic, Schuelke is working assiduously on the next generation of machines and processes for diamond harvesting on a mass scale. They would like to enable industry to simultaneously produce several diamonds of more than one cubic centimeter in size. "We have to consider several technical details at this stage. We need to increase operating pressures and modify the synthesis process accordingly," explains the team leader.  "The atmospheric pressure plasma technology also holds much promise.  Here's where our colleagues' experience at the German parent institute comes into play and it is extremely useful to us. We are in constant contact with the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden."

The History at a Glance

In September of 1994, Fraunhofer USA began operations when two Fraunhofer Institutes in Aachen opened research centers in the U.S.  The University of Michigan together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT created the Fraunhofer Center for Laser Technology in Plymouth, Michigan.   Boston University partnered with the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT in Aachen and created the Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation.  The original objective was tool and die making but over the years the Center’s research has evolved into providing innovative manufacturing solutions in areas such as pharmaceuticals, medical instrumentation, and optoelectronics.

Also in 1994, the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology opened the Center for Surface and Laser Processing CSLP, today’s Center for Coatings and Laser Applications CCL. The Center is located at Michigan State University, and is one of the world’s leading applied research labs developing synthetic diamond technology. Five years later the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering created the Center for Experimental Software
Engineering CESE at the University of Maryland. Some of their major projects have been with NASA's space shuttle missions.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology, along with support from the State of Delaware started the Fraunhofer Center for Molecular Biotechnology CMB in 2001.  CMB develops technologies to produce vaccines in greenhouses, using host plants and engineered plant viruses.

The Fraunhofer Office for Digital Media Technologies opened in San Jose, California, in 2007.  The goal is to promote the audio-coding technologies of the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, where mp3 was invented.

The Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy was opened in Boston in 2008.  The Center is located near the Massachusetts Institute for Technology campus.  Just like its parent Institute, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy, the Center specializes in solar energy and building energy efficiency.

 

International partnership announces second round of transportation energy technology awards

 

Fraunhofer logoOct. 14, 2009 - An international collaboration between the University of Michigan and Fraunhofer has launched two more joint research teams addressing the increasing global demand for more efficient and sustainable technologies for transportation.

Since April, the Alternative Energy Technologies for Transportation (AETT) program has awarded $2 million in seed grants for a total of five projects. All proposals were peer-reviewed and judged on originality, scientific visibility and possible economic impact by U-M’s Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute and Fraunhofer, together with U-M's Office of the Vice President for Research.

Each project also was judged on its potential to secure external funding or commercialization at the end of the two-year project phase. Each team has scientists from both the U-M and Fraunhofer.

"We are very proud that our two calls for proposals were answered by most excellent faculty, engineers, and researchers at both U-M and Fraunhofer,” said Anke Hellwig of Fraunhofer, AETT program co-director. “Their research plans demonstrate a high synergy between the two units and, therefore, reiterate our motivation to leverage this transatlantic initiative."

electric vehicleMost recipients of the AETT seed grants are working on the key technological issue of future mobility and transportation—the storage of electric energy. State-of-the-art components (as Li-batteries, yellow in fig.) need to be refined and further advanced before they can be integrated in serial production of electric vehicles. AETT researchers are tackling the charge/discharge efficiency, safety, and life-cycle of such batteries, as well as the design of supercapacitors and redox flow batteries.

“This landmark partnership is on the road to moving crucial research discoveries from the laboratories to a vital industry in search of transformation towards sustainability,” said Dennis Assanis, director of the U-M Energy Institute and AETT program co-director. “Not only is this international collaboration advancing transportation energy technology, it’s also building an exciting, close-knit scientific network.”

The two newest AETT seed grant awards are:

High speed laser cutting of electrodes for lithium-ion batteries
Non-aqueous redox flow batteries

Awards in the first round in April:

Integration of high surface area carbide/nitrides with 3D metal foams for high performance supercapacitors

3-D dynamic diagnostics of combustion processes

Laser surface modification for production of high performance lithium-ion batteries

To find out more about the U-M's Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute and Fraunhofer partnership, visit here.

Fraunhofer CSE Opens first Laboratory in Cambridge, MA

CAMBRIDGE, MA – October 13th, 2009. This afternoon, Fraunhofer USA, Inc.’s Center for Sustainable Energy Systems (CSE) officially opened its first laboratory, a PV module innovation facility at a high-profile ribbon-cutting ceremony headlined by German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth and Massachusetts Energy Secretary Bowles.

The new PV module laboratory enables research, development, testing and evaluation of new materials and production processes for photovoltaic solar modules with the aim to increase module energy yield, reduce cost, and extend module durability. A broad set of state of the art fabrication equipment and characterization tools has been installed which is used by CSE scientists in their mission to make PV technology affordable for widespread use.

The Center’s photovoltaic expertise is complemented by the CSE Building Energy Efficiency Group which performs work related to energy-efficient buildings and components. The areas of focus include deep energy retrofits, residential energy management, and building-integrated photovoltaics. To support these activities, an additional laboratory is currently under development, incorporating indoor as well as field-testing capabilities.

The opening ceremony saw Ambassador Scharioth and Massachusetts Secretary of Energy Ian Bowles joined by Fraunhofer USA Executive Vice President Dr. William Hartman, MIT Energy Initiative Director Ernest Moniz, and Deputy Director of Fraunhofer’s Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE), Andreas Bett. A diverse audience included MIT faculty, members of state and city government, and representatives from high-tech startup and multinational companies, and venture capital funds engaged in sustainable and renewable technology development.

With its multinational personnel and support from Fraunhofer institutes across Germany, the facility is the latest link in the “Transatlantic Climate Bridge”, an initiative launched by the German government in the autumn of 2008 in an effort to unite like-minded German and American institutions in the fight against climate change. Speaking at the Center’s official announcement in April 2008, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier remarked that the CSE represented an “excellent example of joint action” between the U.S. and Europe in tackling the challenges of sustainable and renewable energy. Steinmeier’s sentiments were echoed by Ambassador Scharioth, an active proponent of the Climate Bridge, at a speech delivered during the opening ceremony.

Fraunhofer CSE is financially supported by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts through the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, National Grid and anonymous private donors on the US side and from the German Federal Governments Ministry for Education and Research through the Fraunhofer Society in Germany as well as the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems. 

Nolan Browne, the Managing Director of the center stated, “Fraunhofer CSE is fortunate to have very a talented team of scientists working in PV who bring a great depth of expertise in module materials, manufacturing and modeling.” Roland Schindler, the CSE’s Executive Director, who joined the group last year from the world-leading Freiburg-based, Institute for Solar Energy Systems, noted that Fraunhofer CSE has gone to great lengths to ensure that the facility offers capabilities in module fabrication and testing that enable R&D projects to be undertaken on behalf of industry.  Schindler added,"We offer the capability of developing new module designs and optimizing manufacturing processes that incorporate new module materials in order to further lower the cost of PV electricity generation.  Some of our testing equipment is unique in its flexibility to enable measurement of energy yield under a wide variety of environmental conditions.” 

The CSE is dedicated to serving the research and development needs of the sustainable energy industry, helping established industry players and newcomers alike move clean energy technologies from the laboratory to the production line. The center, established with grants from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, National Grid and other private donors, specializes in solar technologies as well as building efficiency technologies and systems.

 

Fraunhofer CMI receives NIH grant

Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation (CMI) received a R21 exploratory research grant from the National Institutes for Health (NIH), National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for investigating a new method of detecting antibiotic susceptibility in bacteria.

Globally, antibiotic resistance is a very serious problem.  When a person becomes ill and goes to a physician for treatment, the doctor takes a clinical history, does a physical exam, and, if s(he) suspects a bacterial infection, will take a specimen to send for culture.  For most bacteria, it takes 3 to 5 days to determine bacteria identity and its drug susceptibility as the standard methods are based on culture methods and therefore require time to allow the bacteria to grow.  In many cases, physicians cannot wait for culture results to administer treatment and so they use their clinical judgment and prescribe treatment in the absence of this information.  Some of the time, the wrong antibiotic is prescribed and these events contribute to the rising problem of antibiotic resistance.

What is needed is a faster diagnostic to enable physicians to prescribe appropriate antibiotic therapy in the first place.  That's where Fraunhofer CMI is developing cutting-edge new methods.  Dr. Alexis Sauer-Budge considered the problem of detecting antibiotic susceptibility in bacteria.  The current practice (culture) requires that the bacteria grow to a high concentration.  In the case of tuberculosis, which is an infectious disease that usually attacks the lungs, diagnostics can take as long as six weeks.  One rapid diagnostic method with a shorter time to results is Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR).  PCR is a genetic test that looks for specific mutations that confer resistance to antibiotics.  However, bacteria can develop resistance in many ways (and thus various mutations can confer resistance).  Unfortunately, PCR is limited by how many mutations can be interrogated at once and that the genetic basis of the mutation is known ahead of time.  Dr. Sauer-Budge came up with a micro-fluidic based method to interrogate the bacteria in a phenotypical method (the visible characteristics of an organism resulting from the interaction between its genetic makeup and the environment).  Her method can detect susceptibility in the lab, in 10 minutes.  This is a significant improvement over the current practice which takes 3 to 5 days.  Moreover, since the method is a phenotypical method, it is robust to genetic mutations conferring new types of resistance and does not require a priori knowledge of the genotype.

CMI is focusing on one bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, which causes skin and blood infections.  Methicillin- resistant S. aureus (MRSA) is a significant contributor to nosocomial infections.  The NIH grant is funding Fraunhofer CMI to develop the method further by studying different strains of the bacteria and to standardize the protocol so that their susceptibility can be rapidly determined. 

Dr. Sauer-Budge created a microfluidic chamber in which the bacteria can be observed in a custom instrument based on a fluorescent microscope.  Her image analysis can determine whether or not the bacteria will die in the presence of antibiotics in just 10 minutes.

The results of her research will help doctors around the world to provide their patients with the correct antibiotic for the initial antimicrobial drug therapy.  No more guessing.

Fraunhofer CMI is partnered with Boston University and is one of six Fraunhofer USA research centers. 

 

World Record: 41.1% efficiency reached for multi-junction solar cells at Fraunhofer ISE

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE have achieved a record efficiency of 41.1% for the conversion of sunlight into electricity. Sunlight is concentrated by a factor of 454 and focused onto a small 5 mm² multi-junction solar cell made out of GaInP/GaInAs/ Ge (gallium indium phosphide, gallium indium arsenide and germanium).

The full press release can be found on our website:
www.ise.fraunhofer.de
 

To view the pdf document

Gov. Minner receives Fraunhofer Medal

Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner received the Fraunhofer Medal, the highest award of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft.  Gov. Minner has been a strong supporter of Fraunhofer's Center for Molecular Biotechnology (CMB), located in Newark, DE.  Due to her leadership and support, CMB has become a reputable, internationally accepted research unit, with a number of large grants and contracts, including projects from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, DARPA, and many industrial partners.  The Center was able to flourish in Delaware's life science network and create partnerships with universities and other businesses involved in the biotechnology sector. 

The Fraunhofer Medal is awarded and approved by the Fraunhofer Board of Directors to dignify internal and external persons with special accomplishments regarding Fraunhofer.

Guide to Advanced Empirical Software Engineering
Dr. Forrest Shull, division director for Measurement and Knowledge Management at Fraunhofer CESE, has co-edited a book on methods for empirical software engineering research. This reference book includes chapters from some of the top international empirical software engineering researchers and focuses on the practical knowledge necessary for conducting, reporting and using empirical methods in software engineering. 

Part 1, Research Methods and Techniques, examines the proper use of various strategies for collecting and analysing data, and the uses for which those strategies are most appropriate. 

Part 2, Practical Foundations, provides a discussion of several important global issues that need to be considered from the very beginning of research planning. 

Part 3, Knowledge Creation offers insight on using a set of disparate studies to provide useful decision support. The book presents reference material with concrete software engineering examples. It describes some methods that are less often used in the field, providing less conventional but still rigorous and useful ways of collecting data, as well as supplying detailed information on topics (such as surveys) that often contain methodological errors.

The book was co-edited with Dr. Janice Singer, who heads the Human Computer Interaction program at the National Research Council, Canada, and Dr. Dag Sjøberg, research director of the software engineering group of the Simula Research Laboratory, Norway.
 

 

 

New Technologies from our German Institutes

 

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