Master-, Bachelor- und State Examination Thesis

This project is part of the Graduate School „Biological Clocks“. The mini-computer Raspberry Pi shall be used for controlling and monitoring culture conditions of diatom cultures. Using Python a simple GUI will be generated that also allows processing of obtained data. This interdisciplinary project combines electronics, measurement control and programming as used in Physical Chemistry with microbiologcal culturing techniques.

This project is part of the Graduate School „Biological Clocks“. Diatom cultures shall be recorded with a custom setup. Python will be used as programming language to analyze the images and to obtain the growth parameters. The analysis will be validated against other optical techniques.

This project is part of the Research Group „PhosMOrg“. Various Copolymers as model compound for biomineralisation shall be synthesized by ATRP-polymerization, a method for obtaining polymers called „living“ or controlled radical polymerisation.

This project is part of the Research Group „PhosMOrg“. We are interested in the question how anionic polyelectrolytes effects the morphologies and kinetics of silification processes.

Interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) are formed of two or more cross-linked polymers. IPN systems have garnered significant attention due to their mechanical enhance­ment properties, which enable the application of those special networks in drug delivery systems. This project focuses on the use of natural biopolymers as well as a natural crosslink agent to develop IPN networks and use them for drug release purposes.

The synthesis of polyphenol-chitosan conjugates is a good alternative to overcome the poor water solubility of chitosan and widen its application . Using a free radical-induced grafting reaction, phloroglucinol can be covalently inserted in the chitosan backbone. The final modified polymer has applications in diverse areas like food packaging materials and drug delivery systems.

Irradiation of a detached azo layer by light of a given polarization causes bending at the irradiated spot. Different shapes of the laser ray cause the introduction of various bending areas leading to a folded film. The creation of these 3D-structure is a reversible process. Reversible 2D-to-3D folded structures might be useful for e.g. particle delivery or to isolate particles or cells. This internship / thesis project is going to deal with the production of azo films and bending experiments in our laser lab.

Renewable ressources may be the basis of future sustainable material systems. In this project, we seek to develop a procedure for extracting multiple materials from brown algae such as polysaccharides, phlorotannins, and carotenoids. In collaboration with algae biology and mechanical engineering, new applications for these materials are developed.