New Therapy for Wound Healing at MEDICA
INP Greifswald and neoplas tools GmbH introduce plasma-pen kINPen® MED at medical trade fair in Dusseldorf.

At the international trade fair MEDICA in Düsseldorf, scientists from Greifswald will introduce the first cold plasma-jet with the aim to improve wound healing. Together with its spin-off neoplas tools GmbH the Leibniz Institute of Plasma Science and Technology e.V. (INP Greifswald) will belong from November 12-15 to approximately 4600 exhibitors at the world’s largest medical trade fair. Their joint innovation: the plasma jet kINPen® MED to treat chronic wounds and pathogen-induced skin diseases. Certification as a medical device was received in collaboration with the University Medicine Greifswald and the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin.

Based on many years of basic research, scientists of the Leibniz Institute in Greifswald verified that physical cold plasmas inactivate pathogens but also multi-resistant bacteria like MRSA Wound healing is stimulated by the anti-bacterial and proliferation-enhancing effects of physical plasma. Furthermore, clinical trials showed successful treatment of chronic ulcera (open leg ulcer, lower leg sore) with plasma applications. For about 4 million people in Germany suffering from chronic wounds plasma therapy could be an effective alternative to established therapies in wound treatment.

“In the last few years Greifswald became a leading international center of plasma medicine. Our research results served as basis for a successful product development and launch of the kINPen® MED by neoplas tools GmbH”, says the director of the INP Prof. Dr. Klaus-Dieter Weltmann. Just a few days ago neoplas tools GmbH was awarded with the Ludwig-Bölkow technology prize of the federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to honor the successful transfer of research and development results into commercialization.

Since the start of 2014, the plasma-jet is successfully employed in several clinics and dermatological practices. “We will use the trade fair to present the first therapeutic success and potential of plasma medicine to an international specialists”, explains Renate Schönebeck, General Manager of neoplas tools GmbH, the enterprise in Greifswald manufacturing and distributing the plasma jet.

For the scientists at the INP which are working in the field of application of physical plasmas in medicine is not yet exhausted. “Recent research results suggest that physical plasmas could be used to inactivate cancer cells”, Prof. Weltmann points out.

INP Greifswald and neoplas tools GmbH present their results of plasmamedical research as well as the plasma jet kINPen® MED in hall 15, booth G40. At the shared booth of the Fördergesellschaft WTSH (Wirtschaftsförderung und Technologietransfer Schleswig-Holstein - Promotion of Economic Development and Technology Transfer in Schleswig-Holstein) innovative medical devices of northern federal states are presented.

Please contact us for press enquiries or if you would like to have further information about INP Greifswald as well as the kINPen® MED and neoplas tools GmbH:
Cathleen Möbius
Strategic marketing & research transfer
phone: +49 159 – 0401 0814
e-mail: cathleen.moebius@inp-greifswald.de

Plasma researchers and optics experts are investigating new manufacturing technologies for the high-tech products of tomorrow! INP Greifswald receives €700,000 from the new BMBF joint project "Plasma and Optical Technologies"

With the active participation of eight industrial partners, plasma physicists from the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP Greifswald) and the Ruhr University Bochum are working in collaboration with experts in optical coating technology from Jena and Hanover on processes for the manufacture of high-quality optical precision surfaces. The project volume totals €9.5 million, 60% of which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Optical products shape our lives and work in many areas. They are used in everyday life, for example in the form of spectacle lenses, and in science and technology, for example as high-performance mirrors or filters for laser optics in materials processing or measurement technology. Precise optical components are also the foundation of modern communication technology. Due to their importance for photonics, surface functionalisation and thin film manufacturing are considered key technologies of the 21st century. Only through a series of highly developed manufacturing processes can products that we now take for granted be realised. These processes are mostly based on the use of plasmas.

Scientists at INP Greifswald will conduct research into plasma- and ion-assisted manufacturing processes. To achieve the project goals, active process control concepts will be developed for the first time based on the measurement of plasma parameters during the manufacturing process. Until now, process control in the manufacture of optical components has been limited to the control of operating variables such as gas flows, electrical voltages or currents.
The high quality of optical coatings has been achieved through methods for controlling optical coating thicknesses that have been perfected over the past decade. However, the internal plasma parameters that are crucial for coating formation have not yet been used for process control.

The BMBF-funded joint project 'Plasma and Optical Technologies: Increasing the Quality and Yield of Optical Coating Technologies PluTO+' started on 1 October and is part of the 'Photonics Research Germany' programme. The sub-project at INP Greifswald is being funded with approximately 700,000 euros.

Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology e.V. successful in the research initiative "Future-proof power grids"

The Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology received €830,000 for research and diagnostics of partial discharge phenomena in power grids, with the University of Rostock receiving an additional €230,000 as a cooperation partner.
MOMOS (Multiphysics Online/Offline Monitoring System) is the title of the project under which scientists at the German Aerospace Centre ( ) will be conducting research into sustainable power grids over the next three years. In Greifswald, partial discharge phenomena that occur in generators, transformers and connecting cables, for example, were investigated and analysed.
Partial discharges, also known as pre-discharges, can cause significant problems at the component level of the power grid system. If the intensity of such discharges exceeds a certain level, this leads to pre-damage and, in extreme cases, to component failure. This can result in the failure of parts of the power grid and thus jeopardise the security of supply to consumers. The aim of MOMOS is to design a monitoring system for assessing the condition of power grid components throughout their entire service life. The system should be usable on both components that are in operation and those that have been shut down, and should ensure that components can be replaced based on their condition, among other things. In addition to increasing supply security, the MOMOS project also aims to achieve sustainable and resource-efficient use of power grid components. This is not yet the case with the current state of research and development. Most of the current power grid components are oversized and are often replaced prematurely.
The project was led at INP Greifswald by Dr Sergey Gorchakov. "MOMOS allows us to contribute not only our extensive knowledge of plasma technology, but also our experience in modelling physical processes," says Gorchakov. The physicist saw a particular challenge in the task of finding a connection between various stress factors such as mechanical loads, chemical processes, thermal stress and ageing processes.
"For the INP, the project provides an opportunity to further establish itself in the related field of diagnostics and simulation of transient gas discharges and to secure and expand its already leading international role in the scientific community," Gorchakov continues.
The "Future-Proof Power Grids" funding initiative is part of the German government's 6th Energy Research Programme. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) are using it to fund projects that offer solutions for use in smart distribution grids, transmission grids, grid planning and grid operation management. The funding initiative is thus helping to improve the environmental compatibility, economic efficiency and resource efficiency of electricity grids and the security of electricity supply in Germany. At the beginning of August, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research gave the go-ahead for the research initiative "Future-Proof Power Grids". A total of 83 projects with a total funding volume of around 157 million euros have been selected for funding by the two ministries.

Leibniz Science Campus Rostock founded – new ways of using phosphorus

Phosphorus is a vital mineral. Used as a fertiliser in agriculture, it cannot be replaced by any other substance. However, global phosphorus reserves are running out. This poses far-reaching consequences in view of the growing world population. In addition, the inefficient use of phosphorus has a significant impact on the environment: if, for example, large quantities of unused phosphorus enter the material cycles of ecosystems via agricultural wastewater, this can lead to overfertilisation, which throws the entire system out of balance. The newly founded Leibniz Science Campus Rostock is addressing these challenges.
On Wednesday in Warnemünde, the Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Consumer Protection, the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, the University of Rostock, the Leibniz Association and five Leibniz Institutes founded the "Leibniz Science Campus Rostock: Phosphorus Research" and signed a corresponding cooperation agreement. The aim of this interdisciplinary collaboration is to research phosphorus, a raw material that is becoming increasingly scarce.
"Without phosphorus, agriculture cannot function, because phosphorus is an important substance without which plant growth would not be possible. The fertiliser industry uses a total of 82 per cent of the phosphates mined worldwide," explained Agriculture and Environment Minister Dr Till Backhaus. "In view of the growing world population, the high global demand for food and feed, and the decline in global phosphorus reserves, there are far-reaching consequences for the agricultural and food industries and thus for all consumers. I hope that scientists will show us ways to deal with dwindling phosphorus resources and what new ways there are to recycle phosphorus or use it more efficiently," said Backhaus.
Matthias Kleiner, President of the Leibniz Association, said in his welcoming address: "Even before its official establishment today, the Leibniz Science Campus Rostock has already gained tremendous momentum: it succeeded in bringing the International Phosphorus Workshop to Germany for the first time in 2016. This already underscores its high international visibility."
"The Leibniz Science Campus creates a platform where researchers from different disciplines can work on complex issues and where scientific training takes on a new quality thanks to this close cooperation," emphasised Ulrich Bathmann, Director of the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research.
"The Science Campus is a living example of interdisciplinary cooperation. The Science Campus is a distinction for the research landscape in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania," praised Mathias Brodkorb, Minister of Education and Science.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Consumer Protection is providing start-up funding of 85,000 euros per year in 2014 and 2015. A similar amount is expected for 2016 and 2017. The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture has pledged €80,000 from 2018 until the Leibniz Science Campus is completed. Funding is planned until 2020 at the latest. The Leibniz Association is supporting the Science Campus as a special strategic measure with start-up funding of €150,000 from its impulse fund.
The Science Campus brings together the expertise of five Leibniz Institutes and the University of Rostock, thus ensuring that the most diverse aspects of
phosphorus and its diverse chemical compounds. In addition to basic and applied research, the development and transfer of technologies will contribute to economic development.
The following Leibniz Institutes are involved in the Science Campus: the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis (LIKAT), the Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN), the Leibniz Institute for
Baltic Sea Research (IOW), the Leibniz Institute for Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) and the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP).
The Leibniz Science Campus cooperation model
The Science Campus is a model of regional cooperation between Leibniz institutions and universities. As equal partners, they work on clearly defined scientific issues of mutual interest, complementing each other with their expertise and different perspectives. The regional proximity, a common strategy and interdisciplinary research approaches related to topics, projects and methods are the strengths of the Leibniz Science Campuses. They offer ideal conditions for working on socially relevant issues, further developing entire research divisions and strengthening the scientific environment at the location for the topic. This gives the regional research landscape a higher profile and international visibility.
Six Leibniz Science Campuses have been established since 2009:

• Leibniz Science Campus Tübingen: Education in Information Environments
• Leibniz Science Campus Mainz: Byzantium between the Orient and the Occident
• Leibniz Science Campus Halle: Plant-based Bioeconomy
• Leibniz Science Campus Mannheim: Mannheim Centre for Competition and Innovation (MaCCI)
• Leibniz Science Campus MannheimTax: Tax policy of the future
• Leibniz Science Campus Rostock: Phosphorus research

The Leibniz Association
The Leibniz Association connects 89 independent research institutions. Their focus ranges from the natural sciences, engineering and environmental sciences to economics, spatial and social sciences, and the humanities ( ). Leibniz Institutes address socially, economically and ecologically relevant questions. They conduct knowledge-and application-oriented fundamental research. They maintain scientific infrastructures and offer research-based services. The Leibniz Association focuses on knowledge transfer to politics, science, industry and the public. Leibniz Institutes maintain intensive cooperation with universities – including in the form of Leibniz Science Campuses – with industry and other partners in Germany and abroad. They are subject to a transparent and independent evaluation process that sets standards. Due to their national significance, the institutes of the Leibniz Association are jointly funded by the federal and state governments. The Leibniz Institutes employ around 17,500 people, including 8,800 scientists. The total budget of the institutes is 1.5 billion euros.

Total E-Quality Award 2014 – Outstanding commitment to equal opportunities at the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology

Work and family

Equal opportunities, family friendliness and work-life balance are an integral part of the INP's philosophy. The institute guarantees equal opportunities for women and men at all institute-specific organisational levels and supports its employees with individually tailored personnel development measures.
The INP strives to provide its employees with a family-friendly environment and offers various options, such as individual working time and work location agreements for employees, to enable them to achieve a balance between family and work.

Total E-Quality Award 2014

Outstanding commitment to equal opportunities at the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology e.V.

The Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP Greifswald) has been awarded the TOTAL E-QUALITY label for the years 2014 to 2016 for its active promotion of equal opportunities within the institute. This label is awarded by TOTAL E-QUALITY Germany.
The jury's statement reads: "The Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology actively promotes gender equality and creates family-friendly, work- e working conditions in order to attract the best researchers in their field and retain them at the institute in the long term." It continues: "Increasing the proportion of women, especially at management level, poses a major challenge for the institute with its engineering and natural science profile and its specific location and competitive conditions." The INP Greifswald is committed to pursuing this goal in the future and will involve the existing good cooperation with the surrounding universities.
The award was developed with the support of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the European Union and is given for exemplary action in the field of human resources management geared towards equal opportunities.
TOTAL E-QUALITY Deutschland e.V. was founded in Frankfurt am Main in 1996 and was initially aimed at companies in the business sector. To date, around 250 organisations have been awarded the distinction. Since 2001, research institutions and universities have also been able to apply for the distinction.

European plasma physicists meet in Greifswald

From 15 to 19 July 2014, around 200 plasma physicists came to Greifswald for the ESCAMPIG (Europhysics Conference on Atomic and Molecular Physics of Ionised Gases) symposium. The scientists came from Europe, but also from Japan, South Korea, India, China, the USA and Russia, for example. The symposium focused on topics in the field of plasma physics, ranging from atomic and molecular processes in plasmas to the interaction of plasmas with surfaces and self-organisation in plasmas. Apart from fusion plasmas, the conference thus covers almost the entire spectrum of plasma physics processes in natural and laboratory plasmas. The conference took place in the Greifswald Town Hall. The conference language was English.
Natural plasmas are just as much a subject of the conference as new concepts for the development and application of plasma sources. This means that questions arising from the concrete application of plasmas will also be discussed. For example, the use of plasmas for biomedical applications, the refinement of surfaces using plasmas, such as the production of ultra-hard surfaces or surfaces with low friction, and plasma catalysis in CO2 degradation. Lightning discharges between clouds (in the troposphere) and the ionosphere (the electrically conductive upper atmosphere of the Earth) will also be discussed.
ESCAMPIG is considered one of the most important European conferences on plasma physics. It has been held every two years since 1973. The ESCAMPIG conference last took place in Germany in 1986. Greifswald was also the venue on that occasion. The conference is organised by the Institute of Physics in cooperation with the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP) and the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP).
Plasma physics is an explicit research programme at the University of Greifswald. This is reflected, among other things, in the SFB-TR24 "Fundamentals of Complex Plasmas" based at the Institute of Physics at the University of Greifswald, in which INP working groups are also involved, and in the institute's participation in the Rostock SFB 652 "Strong Correlations and Collective Phenomena in Radiation Fields". Greifswald is also home to the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, which operates the world's largest stellarator experiment for fusion research. Accordingly, the local organising committee of ESCAMPIG includes members from the University's Institute of Physics, the Leibniz Institute and the Max Planck Institute. The award of the conference to Greifswald underlines the importance of Greifswald's plasma research in an international comparison and is a great recognition.

2014-01-22

Plasma pen from Greifswald in Dubai

INP Greifswald and Karlsburg Hospital present themselves at the Arab Health healthcare trade fair

Arab Health in Dubai is considered one of the world's largest trade fairs for the latest products and services in the healthcare industry. In 2013, around 3,900 exhibitors and 85,000 visitors from over 60 countries were expected to attend the event, which took place from 27 to 30 January.

Among the dozen or so exhibitors from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania at Arab Health are the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP Greifswald), neoplas tools GmbH and the Karlsburg Clinic. Plasma medicine is the big topic with which the three institutions from Western Pomerania want to attract attention. Together, they will present "kinpen MED", a globally new medical device that was approved in Germany in summer 2013 for plasma applications on patients.

"As an ionised, cold gas, plasma can inactivate pathogens, including multi-resistant microorganisms, and stimulate wound healing processes. This is the result of basic research that we have advanced in the field of plasma medicine and the decontamination/sterilisation of medical devices," says Prof. Klaus-Dieter Weltmann, INP Director. The medical applications are diverse. A clinical study is to be initiated at the Karlsburg Clinic this year to prove the positive effects of plasma on wound healing in patients. "A stimulating wound healing agent would be an enormous advance for patients with diabetic foot syndrome," explains Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Motz, Medical Director of the Karlsburg Clinic, who is travelling to Dubai with Prof. Weltmann.
Plasma medicine, a young interdisciplinary scientific discipline worldwide, is making the transition from research to everyday clinical practice. Scientists and physicians in Vorpommern are working closely together on this. They are promoting their innovation at Arab Health, which could spare many patients with chronic wounds a great deal of suffering. The number of diabetes patients is currently growing rapidly, especially in the Arab and Asian regions. According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), diabetes mellitus is considered an epidemic of the 21st century. Around 285 million people worldwide are affected. The federation estimates that this figure could rise to 439 million by 2030.

During their stay in the United Arab Emirates, the delegation members from INP, neoplas tools and Karlsburg Hospital will visit the Abu Dhabi Diabetes Centre, where around 350 diabetes patients receive outpatient treatment every day. "In the Arab world, diabetes is a relatively new problem of enormous proportions. That is why doctors from the Western world are welcome with their expertise," says Prof. Motz. The Karlsburg Clinic is exhibiting at Arab Health for the fifth time and has already established contacts with politicians and doctors in the Emirates, which are to be expanded. "The aim is to train diabetologists and specialist staff and to ensure international standards in diabetes treatment," explains the doctor, pointing out that in the Arab world, "cooperation is slow to develop and requires a high degree of personal trust." The Karlsburg Clinic is one of the oldest institutions in the world treating diabetes patients.

Background information on diabetes: Around seven million people in Germany are affected by diabetes mellitus. According to expert estimates, there are an additional four million people whose diabetes has not yet been diagnosed. This figure is cause for concern: if the disease is not detected in time, it can lead to long-term damage. Complications caused by diabetes include heart attacks, strokes, changes in the retina and kidney dysfunction. Circulatory disorders in the legs and feet can also occur. In the worst case, this can lead to diabetic foot syndrome, colloquially known as "diabetic foot". Approximately 40,000 foot amputations per year result from this disease, which is about two-thirds of all amputations in Germany.

The INP Greifswald and the Karlsburg Clinic want to raise awareness of plasma medicine beyond the region. Plasma medicine is breaking new ground across Europe. The federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is funding the joint marketing project of both institutions. The financial resources come from the European Regional Development Fund.