|  WinWinTec  |  Produkte  |  News  |  Messen & Veranstatungen  |  Neue Kooperationen  |  Kontakt  |  Impressum  |  

  Neue Kooperationen

WinWinTec  >  Neue Kooperationen

In view of the current Covid-19 situation, new drugs and vaccines must be developed under high timely pressure. In this context, the bio-medical research of the German Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces may arouse some interest.

The Institute uses a smartWLI-compact table-top measurement instrument for the topographical vertical scanning interferometry (VSI) in order to collect 3D surface images of the bound antibodies "anti-Flag" and "anti-HA" to the corresponding peptides on the array.

So called "docking points" are created for bio-molecules, whose size is checked with the smartWLI compact (*). The antibodies are usually around 10 nm in size.

The method used ultimately serves to accelerate the development of new drugs and vaccines.

(*) Details of the instrument system configuration

 • smartWLI compact table-top measuring instrument

 • 2.3 MP camera

 • motorized xy table 75x50 mm²

 • 5x, 50x and 100x objective

 • MountainsMap® Imaging Analysis M8P

 • Particle Analysis Module M8P

 • Anti-vibration table

The dual-wavelength ps fiber lasers from AFS Jena supply ultra-short pulsed laser light to a nonlinear microscope developed by the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (ipht) Jena. Thanks to this cooperation, high quality and high speed microscopic multimodal non-linear imaging is possible by e.g. simultaneously probing the coherent anti-stokes raman spectroscopy (CARS) CH-vibrational-levels of lipids around 2850 cm^-1 and of protein around 2930 cm^-1, the second harmonic generation (SHG) and the two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF) signals.

Picture: by courtesy of ipht Jena		Picture: by courtesy of ipht Jena

This brings microscopic multimodal non-linear imaging for medical applications a huge step forward, for example CARS spectroscopy and microscopy for brain cancer detection during surgery and other clinical applications such as the examination of human aorta sections, human perivascular tissue, animal tissue and many more.

		Pictures: by courtesy of ipht Jena

The design of the laser, microscope and control unit is so compact that all devices can be put on roll containers and transported to the point of operation by only one operator. Long transport routes of the highly sensitive biological samples, additional cooling systems and other equipment are thus no longer necessary.

The process from the extraction of the tissue or other biological sample to the decision about the microscopically gained results is much more efficient and less risky than with conventional methods which have to resort to complex, alignment sensitive and expensive OPO (optical parametric oscillating) systems which are bound to laser labs and thus immobile.

BASALT®-N2 INDENT micro-forces instrument for

measuring the viscoelastic behavior of hydrogels and other biomaterials

WinWinTec's supplier Tetra developed a micro-forces indentation tester for the specific purpose of describing the complex mechanical behavior of biomaterials used in life science, mainly. As a matter of fact, these materials show frequency-dependent viscoelastic behavior, and when characterizing its properties, the physiological frequency range of possible stresses (0.1 to 3 Hz) has to be taken into consideration.

Tetra's customer Institute for Bioprocessing and Analytical Measurement Techniques (iba) recently published a study on the results of their experiment consisting of a dynamic force measurement (indentation and relaxation) and its evaluation. In this type of indentation measurement, the test piece is compressed vertically by a force up to a maximum of 0.5 N or by 20% of the height of the piece. The force was measured at a constant Z position for 300 seconds, during which time the relaxation behavior of the piece was investigated. The sampling rate was 100 per second. The raw data of the modulus/time curves were fitted with the aid of evolutionary algorithms, and the relaxation time spectrum was derived from the data gained this way.

BASALT®-N2 INDENT made by TETRA, with a 1N force sensor, was used as the measuring system. A circular plate with a diameter of 6 mm was attached to it in order to apply a force to the entire surface of the cylindrical test piece, which had dimensions of d = 5.5 mm, l = 6 mm.

Experimental set-up: BASALT®-N2 INDENT and test pieces

The investigations confirmed the initially formulated thesis that the incorporation of mono-functional precursors (lactide and caprolactone mixtures / LCMs) could specifically adjust the viscoelastic behavior over several orders of magnitude. Increasing the proportion of mono-functional LCMs increased the viscous proportion up until structural integrity was lost (100% mono-functional = no cross-linking agent). The recording of the measured values and the adjustable force range of the BASALT®-N2 INDENT are ideally suited for the systematic investigation of the viscoelastic behaviour of biomaterials and hydrogels.

Scaffold with the polymer platform which was investigated, structured by two-photon polymerization

Messung der Firma IOT mit dem smartWLI-basic

Es handelt sich um einen UV Lack der mittels Excimer matt strukturiert wurde. Der Krater wurde durch eine Luftblase beim Lackauftrag verursacht die in der Mitte ein kleines Loch hinterlassen hat (Bild 1 + Bild 2).

Der Sauerstoff aus der Blase inhibiert die Polymerisation und dadurch die Ausbildung der Faltenstruktur. Im fertigen Produkt ist dieser Fehler als Glanzpunkt zu erkennen.

Bei dem zweiten Beispiel handelt es sich um eine durch Excimer erzeugte Oberfläche ohne Fehler. Das Produkt ist eine tiefmatte, kratzfeste Lackschicht mit soft-touch-Effekt (Bild 3 + Bild 4).