Herpes agent wins German Prize for the Future 2018 | Science | In-depth reports on science and technology | DW

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced on Wednesday evening the winner of the German Future Prize 2018 in Berlin.

The prize is awarded to inventions that have already achieved a breakthrough in the industry and thus improving people's lives. Three teams competed for this honor, which this time was awarded to inventors in the field of medicine:

Protection against herpes viruses during an organ transplant

Helga Rübsamen-Schaeff and Holger Zimmermann and their company based in Wuppertal, AiCuris, are committed to fighting dangerous viruses. Rübsamen-Schaeff founded AiCuris in 2006 from the pharmaceutical giant Bayer.

The human cytomegalovirus (CMV) is one of the viruses she has researched. This herpes virus is widespread and chronically prevalent in almost all people in developing countries and in about half of the inhabitants of industrialized countries. The virus rarely causes symptoms, but it is present in people affected throughout their lives.

CMV becomes a problem only in patients whose immune system is weakened. A viral infection can then break out and attack organs, damage the gastrointestinal tract and even lead to blindness.

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This is especially dangerous when patients receive a bone marrow transplant. During this time, they do not have their own immune system and have to rebuild it over time. A CMV infection in this transitional phase can be fatal.

CMV prophylaxis called Letermovir may offer protection. It was developed by Rübsamen-Schaeff and marketed with Zimmermann. It is an enzyme – a "non-nucleoside CMV inhibitor" – that blocks the replication of the virus.

The drug can also help people who undergo a kidney transplant. And in newborns, whose mothers have CMV, prophylaxis can prevent serious damage to the nervous system.

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And here are the other two candidates who were named:

Reinventing the gear wheel

The gears consist of gear wheels that mesh in a complex way. They transmit the power and rotations generated by the motors so skilfully that the machines always receive the desired speed and force.

Conventional gears, however, have a weakness: there are still relatively few wheels involved simultaneously in the actual transmission of power at a given moment. The surface with which a single pinion strikes the opposite gear is always limited to a very narrow band. And the gears in which a machine works most often will wear out faster.

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That's why engineers Manfred Wittenstein and Thomas Bayer reinvented the sprocket: they disassembled it to form many smaller individual teeth, mounted so that they are in complete contact with the sprocket. opposite when transmitting power.

Better geometry can significantly increase the surface area. This reduces the wear of the gears and many times increases the efficiency and the life of the gearbox.

The new gears are stiffer against torsional forces, generate less unwanted vibrations, operate more easily and can also be more precisely controlled. New machine tools work better with new gears and metal workers – on a lathe, for example – can finish their parts faster.

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Store hydrogen safely – why not in a liquid?

Everyone agrees that hydrogen will be an important energy carrier of the future. The element is virtually unlimited and can easily be produced by electrolysis with green electricity. It is also very easy to generate electricity again: with fuel cells, this can be done in a well controlled and relatively safe manner.

The only question that always worries engineers is how to store it. Hydrogen, like other technical gases, can be stored or liquefied under pressure, but it is not easy to do. The gas is extremely flammable – even very explosive, in combination with oxygen.

The current standard storage pressure is 700 bar, more than twice the pressure of conventional air cylinders. Liquefaction requires temperatures below minus 250 degrees Celsius (minus 418 degrees Fahrenheit).

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To solve the problem, Peter Wasserscheid and Wolfgang Arlt, both professors at the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), and Daniel Teichmann, managing director of Hydrogenious Technologies GmbH, have come up with a completely different solution: harmless carrier fluid. It can then be transported normally – in tank trucks or pipelines, for example – and released if necessary.

The liquid itself can be considered as fulfilling the function of empty "empty bottles or containers". Once the hydrogen is removed, it can again be used as the carrier substance.

The set is called LOHC technology (carrier of liquid organic hydrogen). The carrier liquid is a hydrocarbon called dibenzyltoluene.

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Although the chemical is defined as "dangerous to health", according to the EU label on hazardous substances, it is not toxic. It is flame retardant, non-explosive and therefore even easier to handle and less risky than conventional fuels such as gasoline or diesel. This means that large-scale construction of hydrogen filling stations would not be a problem from a safety point of view.

The LOHC is already used when industrial companies depend on a secure supply of hydrogen, for example in the United States. Hydrogen filling stations fueled by hydrogen are also under construction in Germany, China and Finland.