Karin and Raimund Schutze, of Palm Microlaser Technologies, a subsidiary of Carl Zeiss MicroImaging, won the 2006 Berthold Leibinger Prize for development of laser technology for biomedical research
Over 250 invited guests from politics, science and economy participated in the award ceremony in Ditzingen, Baden-Wurttemberg.
The honoured LMPC technology (laser microdissection and pressure catapulting) allows cell areas and tissue specimens, as well as living cells and cell components, to be precisely marked using a laser beam and catapulted without contact into a vessel using a laser pulse.
The selected specimen area can then be examined molecular-genetically, eg to obtain highly pure DNA, RNA or proteins.
Karin and Raimund Schutze already received the 2001 Philip Morris Research Award for the development of this marketable micromanipulation system.
The prize is awarded every two years by the Berthold Leibinger foundation to honor outstanding research work in applied laser physics for production technology, laser medicine and biotechnology.
This year, the jury - independent experts from industry and science - selected the winners of the four prizes from a total of 32 international nominees.
The major assessment criteria included the level of innovation , implementation and importance of the work.
With a value of euro35,000, the Berthold Leibinger Innovation Prize is the international award for applied laser technology with the highest prize money.
