Calls for Transfer opens up new perspectives: innovative imaging procedure to get next-stage funding from Joachim Herz Foundation
The initial spark and ultimately the decisive breakthrough for the research work was achieved thanks to funding from Calls for Transfer. Now the innovative, X-ray-based measuring method is set for further development: Dr Theresa Staufer and her team at the Institute of Experimental Physics at Universität Hamburg aim to transform the prototype for the X-ray source into a compact device. This would make special analyses in biomedical research markedly easier to realize and more accessible. The project, headed by Theresa Staufer, is now being funded through the new “Innovation Academy for Application-Oriented Research” funding programme run by the Joachim Herz Foundation.
The use of so-called X-ray fluorescence imaging (XFI) enables immune cells in living organisms to be traced, yielding new insights into inflammatory diseases. This groundbreaking application has been pioneered by a team in the Department of Physics at Universität Hamburg headed by Professor Florian Grüner and Dr Theresa Staufer. The process, researched in a C4T project, has already won the Innovation Award for Synchrotron Radiation and was presented at CFEL in March 2023 during a visit by Hamburg Science Minister Katharina Fegebank. More information can be found here.
In addition to tracing cells, it is now possible to measure the temporal and spatial distribution of pharmaceuticals or antibodies. For example, new insights into the development of medication or tumour diagnostics can now be made.
The funding of roughly €200,000 provided by the Joachim Herz Foundation should contribute to the further development of the necessary X-ray sources for this X-ray fluorescence imaging method. At the moment, samples can be analysed only by using a typically very large synchrotron, so the aim is to minimize the innovative X-ray machine so that it would fit in a conventional lab and become standard in various research areas. The technical procedures should proceed automatically so that using them is as easy as possible and would not require special expertise. This would also establish the procedure as a method of analysis for a broad range of applications, making a significant contribution to combating cancer and chronic diseases among other things.
The “Innovation Academy for Application-Oriented Research” run by the Joachim Herz Stiftung funds interdisciplinary, innovative, and risky research projects at the crossroads of engineering, the natural sciences, and medicine that are related to infection research and socially valuable.ben.
Initial spark through C4T
The research project (in cooperation with UKE and conducted at the PETRA III synchrotron at DESY) has been twice funded in the past five years through “Calls for Transfer” (C4T): both the important beam time at DESY in the initial project phase and the development of the first X-ray optics were enabled by C4T support, thus laying essential foundations for the next steps towards practical implementation. “We already have a prototype in our lab. This way we can demonstrate that our goal is definitely achievable. We now have to further develop the basics to construct the most compact and economical structure possible,” says Staufer in the official Universität Hamburg press release.
END OF A SUCCESSFUL PILOT PHASE
The “Calls for Transfer” programme, made possible by the Hamburg Ministry of Science, Research, Equalities and Districts (BWFGB), has been promoting the transfer of ideas, knowledge and technology at Hamburg’s public universities since 2018. The programme supports project applications from all disciplines for up to one year with a maximum of €30,000. The ninth call marked the end of the successful C4T pilot phase, which has already enabled 134 ideas from Hamburg’s universities to enter the realisation phase.
Picture credit: Staufer/UHH
More on C4T
You can find further information on the programme and answers to frequently asked questions here:
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Contact
Contact person for Calls for Transfer
Mareike Post
Project Manager of the “Calls for Transfer” funding programme
Hamburg Innovation GmbH
Tel: +49 40 76629-3153
Email: post@hamburginnovation.de
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You can find further information on the programme and answers to frequently asked questions here:
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