News and Media

Every year, around half a million people in Germany are diagnosed with cancer. Despite the existence of effective treatment options for many types of cancer, many questions about the development of the disease remain unanswered. Why does a tumor develop? What factors promote the growth of cancer cells? Why do metastases spread to other organs over time? The animal models mainly in use to date only represent the actual processes in the human body to a limited extent. The Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden has developed special microsystems in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM in Hanover and the University of Regensburg. They are now using them to examine tissue sections of tumors under realistic conditions.

Sound waves can reveal surface properties. Parameters such as surface or coating quality of components can be analyzed non-destructively using lasers and sensors. In research and some industrial laboratories, this laser-induced surface wave spectroscopy has already become an established measurement technology. With “LAwave”, the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden will present the second generation of a user-friendly measuring device at the International trade fair for quality assurance “Control” in April 2024, which will pave the way into industrial practice.

High-resolution hyperspectral images are set to take quality assurance and increased efficiency in industry, agriculture, and autonomous driving to a new level. The Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden heads a European consortium of twelve companies and research institutes tackling this objective in the project “HyperImage – A universal spectral image sensor platform for industry, agriculture, and autonomous driving”. The European Union is funding the project with a total of 5.6 million EUR over a period of 3.5 years.

Novel storage material for solid-state batteries is the focus of the project “FB2-SiSuFest – Evaluation of silicon anodes in sulfide solid-state batteries”. As a promising anode material, silicon nitride-based particles could enable a high storage capacity with stable and safe operation. The research alliance of renowned partners has received funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) amounting to 1.7 million euros as part of the “Clusters Go Industry” funding guideline as part of the FestBatt cluster. The project will run from December 2023 to November 2025.