Nanobiotechnology for use in agriculture

At first sight, the terms nanobiotechnology and agriculture seem to have nothing much in common. Who would actually associate traditional agriculture with the smallest of minute particles? But these two terms can come together, as the Federal Agricultural Research Centre (FAL) in Braunschweig has demonstrated. The FAL is partnering other European institutes in the European “NANOIMPRINT” project that was given the highest priority from among 500 submitted proposals in the second call for projects in the field of nanotechnology.

The EU has set aside funds to the tune of more than €3 million in order to support the project from 2005 to 2008. The Institute for Technology and Biosystems Technology of the FAL contributes to the project its special expertise in the field of encapsulation, surface coating and bioconversion. With this competence, the Braunschweig-based researchers complement the interdisciplinary team consisting of scientists from different research institutions and companies in Germany, Greece, Sweden and Belgium.

The project is focusing on the development of innovative materials into which nanometer-scale “imprints” of interesting target molecules are made using new methods. These “imprints” help identify the molecules specifically and bind them. Apart from for binding pollutants such as pesticides, the method has proved particularly useful for the generation of resources with biotechnological processes for the conversion of regenerative raw materials.

The European “NANOIMPRINT” project not only brings together the innovative fields of nano and biotechnology, but also agriculture, thus creating a research and development area that has a high future potential.

Contact
Dr. Ulf Prüße
Prof. Dr. Klaus-Dieter Vorlop
Federal Agricultural Research Centre (FAL)
Institute for Technology and Biosystems Technology
Bundesallee 50
D-38116 Braunschweig
Phone: +49 (0)531/596-4270
E-mail: ulf.pruesse@fal.de