Actual projects

Product counterfeiting is a major problem worldwide, causing economic costs of several hundred billion euros a year and leading to safety and environmental risks when low-quality counterfeits are used.

The goal of Spores with pFiF is to develop a cost-effective, molecular anti-counterfeiting system. The vision is an integrated system consisting of biomolecules containing a uniquely identifiable marker and a detection system at the same time. This system should be able to be integrated directly into various printing processes as a drop-in solution that can be produced at low cost.

To realize this vision, synthetic biological systems have to be generated and tested with engineering know-how and integrated into printing processes. Accordingly, Spores with pFiF is being worked on jointly by the Computer-aided Synthetic Biology working group and the Institute of Printing Science and Technology.

This project is funded by the “Forum for Interdisciplinary Research” at the TU Darmstadt.