Axle failure is a common cause of rail emergencies. To solve the safety problem of long-term operation of wheelsets on rolling stock, and prevent sudden operating axle fractures, we are developing the means for assessing axle-life given a defined surface damage.

The aim is to increase the safety of rolling stock traffic, both with passenger and freight vehicles.

The result will be a precise definition of technical conditions required for safe operation of rolling stock axles. Likewise, we'll define conditions needed to prevent emergencies from axle fatigue.

The aim of the project is to create a team of experts in complementary scientific disciplines (material engineers, chemists - analysts, biologists, geneticists, immunologists, toxicologists, histologists) and to develop modern infrastructure for: 1) development and characterization of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs), 2) their surface modification and biofunctionalization, 3) testing the impact of conventional and newly developed nanomaterials (ENM) on the organisms.

The main objective of the project is the development and verification of utility properties of magnetically active TiO2 nanotubes. Project covers the production of the carrier with the declared characteristics (the result of O-type), preparation functional sample (the result of G-type) and the isolation and purification process of selected biomolecules with this carrier (the result of the O-type methodology with proven properties). Methods describing the conditions of the specific interaction of the separated compound with the carrier, conditions for gentle release of the compound from the carrier´s surface to avoid disruption of the biol. activity of the isolated compounds, and finally, the conditions of regeneration and decontamination of carrier for the reusability. Utilization in biotechnology for the preparation of compounds with therapeutic or diagnostic potential is expected. This carrier can be used for the specific isolation of selected biomolecules (rec. proteins with a His-Tag, phosphorylated peptides/proteins as well as nucleic acids ? DNA, RNA) from very complex mixtures with excellent separation characteristics while maintaining very low produce costs for the material. Nanomaterial will be produced in sufficient quantity for demonstration purposes and for a series of qualitative tests of materials and processes. All these findings will be used during the commercialization of the product. Due to high commercialization potential of material both Czech and the PCT patent application is applied and the protection will be also extended by the United States or selected countries of EU. The plan is also to apply another CZ patent application. We will seek for license sale, where we expect interest of companies that provide support to established manufacturers or supply reagents to universities and research institutes. The outputs from the interaction between project team, manufacturers and users of carrier will be used to update the commercialization plan.

The development of new methodologies advancing the state of the art in foodborne pathogen detection is a challenge for
scientists and technologists as well as food industry and consumers. This project aims to meet the challenge by providing a
reliable and versatile solution thanks to the convergence of micro-nano-bio systems. The work capitalizes on several
innovative concepts which have already been proven to meet the required criteria for fast, low cost and highly sensitive
analysis of pathogens in food samples in a previous research project entitled LoveFood.
These concepts are gathered on a credit-card size Lab-on-Chip platform, where all necessary steps for bacteria detection
are performed on several chips. Specifically, bacteria capture and lysis (one chip), DNA extraction (second chip) and
amplification (third chip) and finally pathogenic-DNA detection (fourth chip) can be performed in less than 7 hours and
without the need for skilled personnel or large, lab-based dedicated equipment.
To proceed for a higher Technology Readiness Level towards the successful commercialization of the current prototype and
produce a portable, and rapid platform (targeting total pathogen analysis time less than 3 hours including a 2 hour preculture
step), we propose to further develop it by integrating the bacteria lysis, DNA purification and amplification modules, as well
as the biochip detection platform on a single cartridge, able to perform multi-pathogen analysis (i.e. Salmonella, Listeria,
E.coli and B. cereus) in several samples. The system will be developed for dairy products and meat analysis, with a strong
commitment to produce a pre-industrial prototype by the end of the project.

Project is focused on development of ultrasensitive immunoanalytical method for simultaneous detection of clinically significant markers of ovarian carcinoma (CA125, HE4, CA72-4) in biological material. This multiplex system based on bioaffinity platform with quantum dots as labels and performed in chip in flow mode enables to increase the sensitivity of detection. Analytical approach based on the efficient preconcentration of desired molecules and combined with electrochemical detection by anodic stripping voltammetry is promising tool for diagnosis of disease before the manifestation of clinical symptoms, ideally. Preconcentration unit will consist of magnetic microparticles coated with specific antibodies and fixed by strong magnets in the reaction chamber of microfluidic device. Applied secondary antibodies multilabelled with quantum dots of different materials (Zn, Cd, Pb) specifically captured by immunocomplex become strong source of electrochemical signal after the acidic hydrolysis. For selected cancer biomarkers we assume the limit of detection at the level of ng-pg/ml.

The project is aimed at developing a fully integrated lab-on-chip microsystem platform, performing multimodal
analysis of several analytes combining nucleic acid and whole bacteria detection. The system will allow directly
and without prior culture the identification in one single run of a multiplicity of pathogens and their specific
sequences responsible will be targeted and identified. The heart of this system will be an acoustic detection
biochip incorporating an array of Love wave acoustic sensors, integrated with a microfluidic module. This
detection platform will be combined with a micro-processor, which, alongside with magnetic beads technology
and a micro-PCR module will be responsible for performing sample pre-treatment, bacteria lysis, nucleic acid
purification and amplification as well as whole bacteria detection. Automated, multiscale manipulation of fluids
in complex microchannel networks will be combined with novel sensing principles developed by some of the
partners. This system is expected to have a significant impact in food-pathogen detection by addressing for the
first time a pathological condition on a global rather than germ-by-germ basis, while screening simultaneously
for various pathogens. Finally, thanks to the low cost and compact technologies involved, the proposed set-up is
expected to provide a competitive analytical platform for direct application in field settings.

The project aims to put into industrial practice a new, so-called functional surfactants and chelating agents, which are based on derivatives of aspartic acid. These derivatives are synthesized from maleic anhydride and relevant (fatty) amines, and also from natural aspartic acid. These surfactants and chelating agents have strong sekvestration properties, they are highly biodegradable and, depending on the side chain, have significant anti-corrosion properties as well as antibacterial and antifungal. The project envisages the transfer of technologies to pilot plant scale synthesis (proven technology) as well as the development of functional samples, both for cutting fluid, metal cleaning surfaces, filling the functional (operational) fluids, as well as detergents for the food industry.

At solving of project the new modifications and forms of compounds acting as flame inhibitor in single-base propellants composition will
be developed. By increasing their hydrophobic behaviour the shortening of production cycle by elimination of risk and economically
disadvantageous operation of vacuum drying will be allowed, which will consequently allow minimization of ecological damage, which presently is accompanied with the processing of flame inhibitors to smokeless propellants. New properties of used compounds will allow improvement of user parameters of smokeless propellants used in many modern weapon systems of small, middle and large calibres and will consequently extend their usability not only in new high performance systems, but in the area of safety systems of automotive industry, too.

This project has successfully ended.