Tuesday, 10 March, 2009

Nanostove and ChromoTek again successful

Business plans of CeNS associates convince in Science4Life Venture Cup

Continuing their successes at the Munich Business Plan Contests in 2007 and 2008, ChromoTek and nanostove are now winners of the first stage of the Science4Life Venture Cup. Both business plans were among the 10 successful projects which were selected out of a total of 81 proposals submitted to this German-wide competition. Thus, they are now entering the second stage where 5 teams will be chosen for the final round with prize sums as high as 30'000 EUR.

The team nanostove composed of CeNS Associates Dr. Federico Bürsgens, Dr. Joachim Stehr and Dipl. Biotech. Lars Ullerich is developing a high-throughput tool offering a much cheaper DNA analysis than possible with conventional techniques. Their technology is based on binding the DNA sample to small gold nanoparticles which are then heated up by a laser pulse. Like this, the melting curve of the attached DNA can be recorded within milliseconds.

The CeNS spin-off ChromoTek was founded in 2008 by CeNS Associates Dr. Ulrich Rothbauer, Dipl.-Biol. Katrin Schmidthals and Dr. Kourosh Zolghadr. ChromoTek develops versatile lab tools for proteome research (nanotraps) and fluorescent nanoprobes called Chromobodies® to target and trace antigens in living cells. Due to their small size, their high stability and a very good compatibility with living cells, they can be used e.g. for pharmaceutical drug development and biomedical research.