2012|13 Annual Report Fraunhofer IGB

INSTITUTE OF INTERFACIAL PROCESS ENGI- NEERING AND PLASMA TECHNOLOGY IGVP The former Institute for Interfacial Engineering IGVT was re- named in January 2013: the new Institute of Interfacial Pro- cess Engineering and Plasma Technology IGVP is headed by Professor Thomas Hirth and remains part of the University of Stuttgart’s Faculty of Energy Technology, Process Engineering and Biological Engineering (Faculty 4). The IGVP integrates the Institute for Plasma Research IPF, previously part of the Univer- sity of Stuttgart’s Faculty 8 Physics Department, where Prof. Hirth took over as acting director on July 1, 2012. At year-end 2012, the IGVT had a staff of 54 and a research budget of around 2.5 million euros. The IPF employed 30 staff (page 13). Most of the restructured institute’s activities will be carried out as before on the premises of the Fraunhofer IGB, which is a close cooperation partner. The IGVP will also continue to use the laboratories, pilot plant facilities and ofﬁces at the All- mandring 5b multipurpose facility belonging to the university, but now has additional premises and resources at the former IPF site at Pfaffenwaldring 31. The institute’s working groups, now numbering eight, have at their disposal sophisticated equipment for research into and using interfaces and plasmas, using a whole spectrum of biological, chemical, physical and process-engineering methods. Close cooperation with the various Fraunhofer IGB depart- ments makes it possible to pursue projects from basic research to application. This integrated approach is also reﬂected in the variety of sources of research funding received by the IGVP, including the German Federal Ministry of Education and Re- search (BMBF), the German Federal Foundation for the Envi- ronment (DBU), the German Research Foundation (DFG), the European Union, the Land of Baden-Württemberg, various foundations, and industry. At the IGVT, and now the IGVP, our guiding principle is to combine fundamental academic re- search with application-oriented approaches, including incor- porating ideas from practice. Research and teaching In 2012, the IGVT focused on the design, functionalization and characterization of surfaces of inorganic, biological and organic origin as well as of bio-, nano- and hybrid materials and their interactions. Further activities included the simula- tion and development of interfacially driven processes, e.g. in membrane technology and biotechnology, as well as research into the underlying biochemical, cell-biological, chemical, mo- lecular-biological and physical-chemical phenomena. Teaching activities at the institute centered on the subject areas biomaterials, industrial biotechnology, interfacial pro- cess engineering and nanotechnology. Credited instruction is also offered in further interdisciplinary ﬁelds. Students mostly come from courses in applied materials science, chemistry, mechanical engineering, medical engineering, process en- gineering, technical biology, technical cybernetics, and the WASTE master study program. Biological Interfacial Engineering Host-pathogen interactions Interactions between microorganisms and surfaces Microarray technologies for diagnostics and biomedicine Process development for industrial biotechnology Screening for enzymes and microorganisms Chemical Interfacial Engineering Biomaterials and nanobiomaterials COMPETENCES 58

2012|13 Annual Report Fraunhofer IGB

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