Spin-out Company InoVine d.o.o. was established in the year 2015 to market a technology of magnetic separation of microorganisms in food industry. The technology was developed at Department for Materials Synthesis of Jožef Stefan Institute in cooperation with Faculty for Chemistry and Chemical Technology. With bonding magnetic nanoparticles onto yeast cells in sparkling wine in a combination with magnetic separation the time needed for separation of the used yeast biomass can be shortened from several weeks to approximately 30 minutes. The company InoVine was selected among 5 finalists of the Start Up Slovenia 2015 (35th Conference Podim) competition and was granted with the start-up project.
F.20 Company spin off
In 2015 we successfully ended the applied project in support of development of new drug and methods for its characterization in direct financing of Lek Pharmaceuticals d.d. (Sandoz). The drug is based on iron oxyhydroxide nanoparticles. The research was mainly devoted to control of the size of inorganic nanoparticles’ core during synthesis.
F.04 Increase of the technological level
COBISS.SI-ID: 28505895This patent application protects new procedure, which enables control of malolactic fermentation of wine based on magnetic separation of the bacteria in the certain stage of the process. During the malolactic fermentation the bacteria transform malic acid into lactic acid and carbon dioxide thus decreasing the acidity of the wine. The problem represents separation of the bacteria after the malolactic fermentation as the unseparated bacteria can have negative influence on the wine taste. Adsorption of the magnetic nanoparticles onto the bacteria enables effective magnetic separation of the bacteria from wine in a desired stage of the fermentation process contributing to a control of its final composition.
F.33 Slovenian patent
COBISS.SI-ID: 28600615This invited lecture, presented at MS&T'14 Conference in USA, represents an example of the development of advanced materials based on ferrite nanoparticles, which was designed within our research program. Syntheses of hard-magnetic nanoparticles of Ba and Co ferrite and their stabilization in various solvents based on interparticle interactions were presented. The preparation of stable suspensions allowed for electrically or magnetically directed assembly of nanoparticles into thick films for nonreciprocal self-biased microwave devices and for magneto-electric elements. Ba ferrite nanoplatelets were homogeneously aligned within various matrices, which enabled the development of ferromagnetic liquid crystals and anisotropic magneto-optic polymers.
B.04 Guest lecture
COBISS.SI-ID: 28981543In the “Bite into Science” show of RTV Slovenia Prof Darko Makovec in a popular way presented unusual applications of magnets, especially magnetic nanoparticles.
D.11 Other
COBISS.SI-ID: 29162023