On 12-13 October 2023 took place, for the first time ever, the BioTech Summit Austria in Graz (Austria). The summit aimed to facilitate networking and exchange of ideas on trends in the biotech and pharmaceutical world, how to succeed as a startup and SME, funding and financing opportunities, how to navigate the regulations and the best road to clinical trials.
The event was jointly organised by BIOTECH AUSTRIA, the pioneering association of the biotechnology industry in Austria, and den life science cluster organisation Human.technology Styria (HTS) at the Medical University Graz, bringing together around 350 people, including key players of the Austrian and international biotech industry.

Our colleagues from BRAVE Analytics didn’t miss this fantastic opportunity of networking with similar companies and big players! Vitan Strasser gave a 3min pitch on OF2i technology’ benefits to biotech and pharma companies, highlighting how OF2i can improve work routines and results. Additionally, BRAVE had a booth, where Vitan Strasser and Sarah Knights where able to meet very interesting companies for further businesses.

Last month (6th to 13th September 2023), colleagues from BRAVE Analytics visited FLUIDINOVA facilities in Porto (Portugal) to perform the installation of the OF2i B-Continuous prototype at their hydroxyapatite production site.
FLUIDINOVA’s nano-hydroxyapatite particles are one of NanoPAT’s case studies. With the BRAVE B1 device, they will now be able to characterize nano-hydroxyapatite particles at different stages of their production, using the innovative OF2i technology developed by BRAVE.
The first days of the visit were dedicated to the assemble and calibration of the equipment by BRAVE. In the following days, they performed the connection of the device to FLUIDINOVA tanks. The connection was perfect and they were able to do some preliminary measurements.
BRAVE team trained the FLUIDINOVA team to operate the OF2i equipment by themselves, as FLUIDINOVA will use the OF2i sensor on a daily basis for next weeks to make measurements on different product batches and different states of our production, to get as much information as possible.

All in one, it was a very successful week, where both teams had the chance to learn more about their technologies and processes. As add on, the had a great time together!
Looking forward to the interesting results in the upcoming weeks!

From 26 to 28 September 2023, took place in Basel (Switzerland), The largest Swiss trade fair for international laboratory, measurement and automation technology in chemistry, the ILMAC 2023.
Around 12000 people attended the international conference.
Our colleague Vitan Strasser, from BRAVE Analytics, gave a talk on OF2i technology, highlighting several real uses cases, commenting on the benefits for the users and how OF2i technology can support global biotech and nanopollutant players as this PAT offers real-time nanoparticle characterisation, measurement of nanopollutants at ultra-low concentrations, and many more! Additionally, on their booth, Vitan was able to network with a number or interesting companies.

BNN Brings Nanomaterials to the Public at European Researchers’ Night 2023
On Friday, 29 September 2023 BNN joined researchers across Europe for simultaneous public science events in dozens of European cities. In Graz we joined European Researchers’ Night 2023 at Universalmuseum Joanneum – a great venue in the heart of the city.

Under the title “Life is Science – in a digital world”, the Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (acib) and St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences jointly organised this fantastic event to present engaging, hands-on activities suitable for people of all ages, from children to students to adults,offering them a glimpse into the daily activities of several research institutions on the topics of Health & Food, Climate & Environment, Digital Transformation and Culture & Community.

Around 70 people stopped by the BNN booth “Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology Games – Match the Nanomaterial!” to match microscopic images of nanomaterials to their real-life applications. Young visitors showed off their lab skills by performing experiments on the Lotus Effect, creating magnetic fields with ferrofluid, or writing secret messages with our “magic ink” containing nanoparticles used in anti-fog coatings. Even the youngest visitors loved using a pipette to create large and small water droplets on hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces!

It was exciting to be surrounded by so many companies, organizations and projects from our community – from lab meats to green tech skills to virtual reality, the offerings were a delight for experienced and budding scientists alike.

BNN provided materials from our projects such as DeDNAed, DIAGONAL, HARMLESS, NABIHEAL,NanoPAT, NextGenMicrofluidics, PHOENIX-OITB, PRIME, SABYDOMA, and others.

Find out more about the Graz event at https://www.lifeisscience.at

View some of our moving pictures here: visual recapA big thank to PO and Evaluator for their valuable suggestions and their support in encouraging our continued progress!

The 11th PhD-Student Workshop on Polymer Reaction Engineering (WP PRE2023) took place this year as follow up event to the PRE2023 (add hyperlink NanoPAT@PRE2023 News), from 8 to 10 September 2023 also in Potsdam, Germany. This workshop is specifically designed for European PhD students seeking contact with fellow students and the polymer industry. They are encouraged to present their PhD topic (short oral and poster presentation) to a professional audience, benefiting from helpful feedback and suggestions of the experienced audience; at the same time the students can meet industry representatives and potential employers in person. This benefit is of course bi-directional, as industry representatives can learn about the latest academic research in the field of PRE and get to know future graduates. Around 50 people attended the event.

As particle size monitoring techniques can be very useful in the emulsion polymerization field, due to the effect that the particle size and the particle size distribution has in the final applications of the latex, our colleague Usue Olatz Aspiazu Iturbe, from UPV/POLYMAT, gave a talk about the monitoring of the particle size of polyacrylate latexes during seeded semibatch emulsion polymerization processes by simultaneous analysis with inline Photon Density Wave Spectroscopy (PDW) and online Turbidity Spectroscopy (TUS).

The 14th International Workshop on Polymer Reaction Engineering (PRE2023) took place in Potsdam from 5 to 8 September 2023 at Fraunhofer-IAP in Potsdam, Germany. Usually held every three years, this international workshop is a prestigious platform for experts to share their latest findings, as well as a knowledge pool for young professionals who want to gain a broad foundation or present their own work.

Rising energy costs and the need to base polymer production in future more and more on sustainable raw material feeds impose significant challenges to the polymer industry. Polymer reaction engineering can contribute significantly to match these challenges. Around 150 people from academia and industry participated in this 14th edition which focused on the design and intensification of polymer production processes, conditioned by both customer requirements and new technological developments such as new catalysts, process analytical technologies and novel modelling and simulation tools; additionally, current topics in the synthesis of plastics based on monomers from sustainable sources, polymer recycling and possible recycling of polymeric materials to conserve resources where part of the program.

NanoPAT participated at the event to show some of the results of our work with polymers and PATs: particle size monitoring techniques can be very useful in the emulsion polymerization field, due to the effect that the particle size and the particle size distribution has in the final applications of the latex. Our colleagues from UPV/POLYMAT Usue Olatz Aspiazu Iturbe, Shaghayegh Hamzehlou and Joserra Leiza attended the event. Usue presented a poster and gave a flash talk about the potentiality of Turbidity Spectroscopy (TUS) to online monitor the particle size of the polyacrylate latexes. The poster is related to this recent publication (DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.08.197) from UPV, POLYMAT and IRIS on how wavelength exponent based calibration curves can be successfully used to retrieve the particle size during the polymerization process using Turbidity Spectroscopy (TUS).
Why did the project have an active role in this event?:

This video provides an overview about the EU H2020 NanoPAT project. It explains why the characterisation of nanoparticles is crucial for manufacturing processes, which are the main features of conventional characterisation technologies and which novel technologies are being developed in NanoPAT to overcome the shortcomings of the traditional ones. Furthermore, the scope of the project, the 3 real-time in situ particle size characterisation (Photon Density Wave Spectroscopy (PDW), OptoFluidic Force Induction (OF2i), TUrbidity Spectrometry (TUS)), as well as the 5 case studies where the technologies will be validated are presented.

In the June and August 2023 editions of the Wiley Analytical Science Magazine „GIT Labor-Fachzeitschrift“, there were 2 articles of our colleagues from MUG and BRAVE (in German and English respectively) summarising the principle of operation of OF2i for the characterisation of nanoparticles in real-time.

An article on PDW Spectroscopy has been published by Anika Krause, Marvin Münzberg (University of Potsdam / innoFSPEC), and their colleagues from TU Berlin (Björn Gutschmann, Sebastian Riedel) and PDW Analytics (Roland Hass).

NanoPAT had the opportunity on 12 July 2023, to present the progress made to our funding agency, the EC, and our external evaluator John Parthenios. During the presentations, we discussed the developments achieved during the last 18 months (second reporting period) and outlined our upcoming plans.
A big thank to PO and Evaluator for their valuable suggestions and their support in encouraging our continued progress!