Technology Offerings

Current established protocols for the in vitro expansion of T cells face several problems like induction of apoptosis by stimulation of the T cell receptor complex (TCR), expansion of only subpopulations of CD4+ T cells or unwanted release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. The present method for expansion of T cells in vitro leads to a remarkable expansion of those T cells in complete absence of anti-CD3 antibodies and superagonistic anti-CD28 monoclonal antibodies. Hereby, the engagement of TCR is avoided and an unbiased expansion of T cell, in particular CD4+ T cell, subsets is achieved. The unbiased expansion of CD4+ T cells is reflected by maintained responsiveness of the expanded CD4+ T cells towards polyclonal stimuli and antigenic recall antigens in comparison to non-expanded CD4+ T cells.

This invention describes a new process for the carbonylation of aryl derivatives with the aid of a metal-free organic photocatalyst.

Corrosion of steel in concrete is a global problem, leading to billions of dollar in repair and maintenance cost. A reliable diagnosis of the condition of a reinforced concrete structure is the basis for an effective life cycle management.
Potential mapping allows a location of areas with a high risk of chloride induced corrosion of steel in concrete. Typically, a half cell potential is measured with a high resistive voltmeter between an external reference electrode and the reinforcement. However, this method requires the local destruction of the concrete cover to establish a galvanic contact between steel bars and the reference electrode. In some cases older structures cannot be analysed reliably due to the discontinuity of the reinforcement.
The novel Delta-Sensor Concrete Corrosion Analyser overcomes these disadvantages by measuring without a reinforcement connection through a direct measurement of the surface potentials between three CuSO4 half cells and the determination of the field gradient in the vicinity of depassivated reinforcement areas. The results are plotted in a corrosion map, showing precisely the position of critical areas in the concrete structure.

The newly developed process combines the LIFT (Laser Induced Forward Transfer) process and screen printing to produce the front contacts of solar cells.
The combination allows the minimization of contact and line resistances even in industrial scale production and is associated with substantially reduced costs of materials. In particular, silver is being replaced with nickel or copper.
In addition to saving costs by not using silver the process optimizes the contact and line resistance which increases the solar cell's efficiency.
The German patent has been granted.

The use of light for information transfer allows high data transfer rates. Processing of the data is done almost exclusively electronically in integrated, silicium based components. The novel electro-optical component is based on the rapid change of transmission characteristics of an optical wave guide by means of the application of electric potentials, respectively the induction of electrical currents. It offers high electric band and can be operated on low voltages.

This technology here describes an immune-therapeutic approach with dendritic cells (DC) for the treatment of cancer. It overcomes constraints of current DC therapy models like limited IL-12 production, a cytokine which is critical for immunologic memory. Therefore and most importantly, cytotoxic T cells induced by these designer DC combine a memory-like phenotype and a markedly increased secondary expandability with a high lytic capacity. Furthermore, this approach is by far more cost efficient than competing products.