A hundred times more infectious than HIV, hepatitis B is a particularly recalcitrant disease that affects 350 million people chronically worldwide and has proven resistant to most treatments. But French scientists Gilles Gosselin, Jean-Louis Imbach and Martin L. Bryant have developed a highly effective anti-viral drug against hepatitis B which shows less cross-resistance with other medications and can thus be used as a first line of treatment.
Biochemists Jason Chin and Oliver Rackham found a way to incorporate unnatural amino acids into proteins, enabling scientists to understand and control the functions of proteins in cells with unprecedented precision. Their groundbreaking invention has the potential to revolutionise the way patients are treated using protein-like therapeutics, such as insulin treatment, as well as to detect prostate, ovarian, and colon cancer.
Billions of lithium-ion based rechargeable batteries are produced every year to power our cell phones, laptops and MP3 players. Discarding them can add up to huge amounts of waste. French scientists Farouk Tedjar and Jean-Claude Foudraz developed a novel solution ─ which is fast, effective, inexpensive and uses less energy ─ to recycle these batteries and recover 98% of the valuable metals they contain.
German engineer Stefan Lehnert has pioneered the use of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene - a highly durable, light and adaptable plastic - in architecture. The roof and cladding system he invented, based on plastic cushions filled with air, is energy efficient and able to withstand high impact. It has been used all over the world in high-profile architectural projects, such as the Eden Project in England or the Beijing National Aquatics Centre in China.
German chemical engineer Manfred Stefener, together with Oliver Freitag and Jens Müller, created the first fuel cell for portable use, known as the direct methanol fuel cell. These fuel cells deliver efficient, reliable and clean electricity in a much more compact form than a traditional battery-power supply, even in extreme temperatures. They are already used in a vast array of applications from traffic management, to security and surveillance systems, to powering isolated environmental-data stations.
Aware of the drawbacks of traditional hearing-aid design, a team of Danish inventors from the company WIDEX created a new, computer-aided method to manufacture individually-fitted, comfortable hearing-aid devices. Their invention revolutionised the sector and is the design basis for nearly every in-the-canal hearing aid on the market today. It has increased quality of life for millions of people around the world.
Working in the mobile phone division of Ericsson in the mid-1990s, Dutch engineer Jaap Haartsen found a revolutionary way to connect electronic gadgets to each other at short range without the use of cables, using a variety of low-power radio frequencies. Now used in more than two billion devices worldwide, Bluetooth has changed not only the way electronic devices connect with each other, but also how people connect and communicate.
Together with Dr Klaus Hallermayer at Roche Diagnostics, German cardiologist Hugo Katus and his team at the University of Heidelberg developed a new type of blood test in 1994 which revolutionised the diagnosis of heart attacks ─ currently the leading cause of death worldwide. Their Troponin T antibody test brought a new level of accuracy to the detection of heart disease and is now the gold standard for cardiologists worldwide.
Various water purification systems exist, but their cost and requirement for a pre-existing infrastructure prevent them from being available to the developing world.
Renewable energy sources have become increasingly important as concerns about fossil fuels and the global energy crisis have mounted. Hydroelectric power has emerged as one such alternative power source on the market.
