From Research to Application: Projects at Fraunhofer EMFT

Diabetes types that require regular insulin treatment are highly dependent on the patient's ability to constantly track their blood glucose levels and self-administer insulin accordingly. This not only causes a major inconvenience in everyday life, but also involves the risk of hyperglycaemia or hypoglycaemia. In addition, a blood sugar deficiency can only be predicted inadequately in certain situations. Together with five European partners, researchers at the Fraunhofer EMFT are developing an implantable measuring and dosing system. It is capable of monitoring all relevant key metabolic parameters on a situation-specific basis and adjusting the insulin dosage accordingly.

In patient surveys on insulin dosing, patch pumps score significantly better than conventional insulin injections in terms of comfort and user-friendliness. They are easy to use, comfortable to wear, and do not need to be removed for sports, showering, etc. For safe and comfortable handling, it is essential that the patch pump doses the insulin precisely and evenly. The micropumps developed at Fraunhofer EMFT achieve dosing deviations of less than 4% even with the smallest volumes. Researchers at the institute were able to verify this in a study.

The fight against the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic requires persistence: In addition to the vaccination campaign, effective drugs are needed above all to get a better grip on more severe forms of the disease. As part of the DRECOR (Drug repurposing for Corona) project, researchers from eight Fraunhofer institutes, including Fraunhofer EMFT, are taking a pragmatic approach: The team is drawing on existing drugs with known safety profiles to rapidly develop new therapeutic approaches.

How can we succeed in counteracting incessantly rising costs in the healthcare system while at the same time ensuring patients receive the best possible care? Researchers from 66 companies, universities and institutes in 12 European countries are meeting this challenge in the joint project Moore4Medical.

In the "Active Implants" project, the use and a possible safety risk of implants in medical applications are examined. The focus is on two fundamental safety-relevant topics: Interaction between micropump and conveyed medium (e.g. drugs) and a reduction of the operating voltage. Intelligent implants have an enormous potential in medical applications with high added value for affected patients, making research on this topic highly relevant.

In the "StressScent" project, a virtual reality system is being developed which is intended to better prepare rescue and emergency forces for sometimes dangerous missions and stressful situations by providing realistic training. Since all senses are intended to get a better experience of real-life situations during this training, Fraunhofer EMFT is developing an scent dosing system specifically for this purpose. With the help of the project, future emergency forces can be better prepared for operational situations, their stress resistance increased and thus contribute to a safer working life for rescue forces.

Fraunhofer EMFT is developing intelligent plasters for the early detection of pressure ulcers in nursing care. For this purpose, work is being done on an AI-supported prophylaxis that can initiate preventive actions through early detection, thus making life easier for nursing staff and the person treating the patient.

The Fraunhofer EMFT scientists support the development of „bee-friendly“ pesticides by doing research on sensor technologies identifying „bee-harmful“ substances in early phases of pesticide development.

New pharmaceutical active ingredients, such as biologicals, mRNA, genes, tissue- or cell-based formulations, enable novel treatment options for diseases. Applying these medications through the lungs using innovative inhalation systems is a promising way to achieve affordable, safe, and efficient therapies. Researchers at Fraunhofer EMFT, together with three other Fraunhofer Institutes, are working on an intelligent inhaler that allows control and monitoring of drug administration efficiency down to the smallest detail.

In the LEO project (platform technology for the resource-efficient production of conductive tracks on large-area surfaces equipped with electronics), Fraunhofer ISE and Fraunhofer EMFT are bundling their expertise in fine-line metallization and roll-to-roll processing as well as thin-chip integration in foils.