Vaccines are currently a great source of hope for many people, as it is believed they will help to protect society against COVID-19 and pave the way back to a normal life. The current focus is clearly on coronavirus — but vaccines are also fundamental to combating other pathogens. A team of researchers from three Fraunhofer Institutes has now developed a method of producing vaccines that is faster, more efficient and more environmentally friendly than the conventional production process — and their efforts have earned them the Joseph von Fraunhofer Prize for “Human- and Environment-Centered Technology” on behalf of their teams.
With great pleasure, physicist and award winner Frank-Holm Rögner from our institute accepted this honor together with colleagues from the Fraunhofer Institutes IZI and IPA in Leipzig and Stuttgart (Germany).
He explains: "For almost 30 years, Fraunhofer FEP has been successfully engaged in the development of electron beam technologies and their use in a wide range of sectors. Thus, the idea was born not only to coat or modify substrates such as sheets, strips, web or other surfaces with the help of accelerated electrons, but also to treat seeds or liquids with precisely controlled electron doses. It is important for the further development of a technology that new ideas are generated through interdisciplinary collaboration, such as with colleagues from other institutes. It was then not a long way to the idea of adapting the process for vaccine production."
Now the researchers are being honored for developing a process based on low-energy electron beam technology that gently inactivates pathogens as well as pathogenic agents and viruses, allowing vaccines to be produced more efficiently and without the use of toxic chemicals.
