Research and Development News

Platelet Protection

A research team involving the universities of Jena and Leipzig has found a way round the problem of conventional titanium-dioxide artificial heart valves causing blood clots. Coating the material the blood protein fibrinogen deters blood platelets from sticking to the valves’ surface. The discovery should improve the treatement of heart disease.

Great Barriers

Bayreuth researchers have developed a new sort of barrier films, the layers between packaging and product that protect food from contamination, dust or moisture. The scientists replaced plastics with a compostable, environmentally friendlier alternative. The new solution was invented together with Proctor and Gamble.

Solar Airship

A research team from universities in Erlangen-Nuremberg and Munich have made a theoretical model of a dirigible that could run solely on solar power. Ironically the researchers used the blimp involved in one of history’s most famous air disasters – the Hindenburg – as a model for their simulation. The simulated blimp is roughly the same size as that historic airship, but would use helium and contain 13,000 solar cells and a lithium-ion battery.

Source of Immunity

Researchers in University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf have found evidence that infestions with less serious coronavirus helps immunize people against potentially fatal cases of Covid-19. The discovery has important implications for the production of anti-coronavirus vaccinations, which have previously been based around SARS-CoV-2.

Synthetic Therapeutic

Scientists in Leipzig have devised a way of synthesizing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive substance in cannabis, which has a number of potential therapeutic and pharmaceutical uses. They hope the process could increase the availability and use of cannabinoids for treating various ailments, including pain, psychosis and epilepsy.