Press Releases

Pests that spread as a result of climate change pose an increasing threat to fruit farming and viticulture in Germany. Fraunhofer researchers are working with partners to develop methods for the early identification of infestations in grapevines and in apricot, apple and pear trees so as to enable timely counter-measures to be taken. A mobile lab, the PhenoTruck®, supports rapid and reliable identification of harmful organisms directly on site. The platform provides a highly mobile system for analyzing disease symptoms, combining machine-learning methods, drone-based multispectral sensing, hyperspectral sensing and molecular biological tests.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), while not among the most common cancers, remains one of the deadliest and most treatment-resistant tumors, with a five-year survival rate of just 10 –11%. Despite the introduction of new treatment options, the standard of care has seen little progress over the past three decades, and overall survival still ranges between 6 and 12 months. This poor prognosis is largely due to the tumor’s inherent resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, driven in part by cancer stem cells (CSCs) with unique transcriptional profiles regulated by epigenetic and epitranscriptomic mechanisms. The Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT with its expertise in the development of customized nanoparticles is part of the international consortium.