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Analytik Jena supports endowed professorship at the University of Jena

Jena, November 01, 2012 – At the Institute of Photonic Technology (IPHT), the research areas of fiber optics and biophotonics will be working together even more closely in the future. For this purpose, Markus Schmidt was selected to be the new research group leader at IPHT as well as an endowed professor of fiber optics at the University of Jena. This professorship is funded by the Foundation for Technology, Innovation and Research Thuringia (STIFT), Analytik Jena AG and IPHT. This significantly bolsters both basic research and the development of methods and instruments for the use of fiber sensor technology in life sciences at IPHT.

There are many areas of application for fiber-based sensors, including the detection of traces of various substances in gases and liquids, sensor networks for monitoring large-area ecosystems, and fiber-based optical readout procedures in analytics or endoscopy as used in modern tissue diagnostics.

With Markus Schmidt as their new leader, the research group for fiber sensor technology at IPHT is to establish closer links between the two key subjects of biophotonics and fiber optics, helping to strengthen and focus the scientific profile of IPHT in the future. “This link enables the institute to explore and develop innovative scientific and technical solutions in areas important to society such as chemical analytics and bioanalytics, biomedical diagnostics, environmental monitoring or safety engineering more intensively,” emphasizes Professor Jürgen Popp, Scientific Director of IPHT and Head of the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the university.

Schmidt, who was born in Hamburg, studied physics in his home town and earned his doctorate in the area of nonlinear photonic components in 2006. The 37-year-old then worked as a group leader at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, where he developed innovative methods for producing and characterizing hybrid glass fibers. After spending a one-year research period at Imperial College London as a visiting scientist, Schmidt returned to the Max Planck Institute and became qualified as a professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg this year. Schmidt is highly competent in the areas of structured optical fibers and sensor development. “Through Mr. Schmidt’s appointment, we have gained competent reinforcement in the area of fiber biosensor technology for developing innovative methods and systems in line with our guiding principle, ‘From Ideas to Instruments,’ and benefiting the optics industry in Jena and Thuringia,” says Professor Hartmut Bartelt, Head of the Research Department of Fiber Optics at IPHT.

The professorship for fiber optics with a primary application focus on sensor technology in life sciences will be based in the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy at Friedrich Schiller University Jena. It will work very closely with the Faculty of Biology and Pharmacy and the Faculty of Medicine as well as with non-university institutions in the region that focus on life sciences. It is already successfully cooperating with the Faculty of Chemistry and Earth Sciences. Together with Professor Lothar Wondraczek, who recently took over the chair of Glass Chemistry II at the Otto Schott Institute of Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Schmidt developed a new thin film sensor that is 36 times more sensitive than conventional sensor systems. This sensor can also be used in biosensor technology. Their results were only recently published in the journal “Nature Communications.”

“This professorship will have a positive impact on the future-oriented field of biosensor technology thanks to the active interplay and use of existing technology for producing special fibers at IPHT as well as the cooperation with research institutions and companies in Thuringia,” says Klaus Berka, CEO of Analytik Jena AG. Professor Werner Bornkessel from STIFT adds: “The endowed professorship provides ideal conditions for working on a wide range of specific questions in life sciences and for strengthening the bond between science and business, which is a matter of particular concern to our foundation.”