Hugo-Junkers-Preis 2023
The Minister of Science, Prof. Dr. Armin Willingmann, honored the winners of the Hugo Junkers Prize 2023 on June 7, 2023, in Köthen (Anhalt-Bitterfeld district) and awarded prize money totaling 80,000 euros. He says: "Saxony-Anhalt relies on innovation. The Hugo Junkers Prize impressively shows that in our state, bright minds from science, industry, and trade are shaping the future with great ideas. These pioneers and enablers would certainly also have inspired the Dessau aviation pioneer Hugo Junkers. It is therefore all the more important that we bring these people and their strong achievements out of laboratories and offices and into the well-deserved limelight with the Innovation Award."
The universities of Magdeburg and Halle are the big winners in the competition for this year's „Hugo-Junkers-Preis“. They are the first-place winners in three out of four categories, with additional second and third places
In the category "Most Innovative Basic Research Projects", Prof. Dr. Jessica Bertrand from the Orthopedic University Hospital was awarded together with her team. They took 2nd place in the category, which comes with prize money of 7,000 euros. The team's research is on "Novel biocompatible Ta-Nb-Ti multicomponent alloy with antibacterial properties for use in biomedical applications".
Information on the research project
Research on novel biocompatible materials can basically be divided into two sub-areas. First, the interdisciplinary team is working on materials development, which includes alloy design, materials fabrication/synthesis, and characterization of microstructural and mechanical properties. On the other hand, they are working on understanding and optimizing the interactions with the challenging conditions in a living system, i.e. in a broader sense the acceptance of the material when implanted in the human body.
The aim of the research project is to develop a novel material which, due to the set combination of properties (mechanical properties and biocompatibility), represents an attractive and innovative approach for biomedical applications and consequently increases patient welfare. In particular, the use of novel materials should reduce and, in the best case, eliminate the likelihood of infection, resulting in a reduction in the number of inflammation-related revision surgeries.
Team Members
- Maximilian Regenberg
- Dr.-Ing. Janett Schmelzer
- Dr.-Ing. Georg Hasemann
- Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Manja Krüger
- Prof. Dr. Jessica Bertrand
Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg
Lehrstuhl Hochtemperaturwerkstoffe
Experimentelle Orthopädie
Das Team für das Forschungsvorhaben "Neuartige biokompatible Ta-Nb-Ti Multikomponentenlegierung mit antibakteriellen Eigenschaften für den Einsatz in biomedizinischen Anwendungen". Foto: © IMG/Unrau