Rewarded Talents

Innovation Medal 2022: Denis Spitzer, unprecedented processes for ultrafine powders

January 09, 2023 - 10 min reading
Denis Spitzer, winner of the CNRS 2022 Innovation Medal

Each year, the CNRS medals are awarded to researchers and staff who make an outstanding contribution to the institution's dynamism and reputation. Discover the research work of Denis Spitzer, winner of the 2022 Innovation Medal. This medal honors outstanding research in the areas of technology, therapeutics, economics or society.

Unprecedented processes for ultrafine powders

Today, 90% of drugs, including nearly 40% of anti-cancer drugs, dissolve unsatisfactorily, which hinders their absorption and requires high doses.

Faced with this challenge, Denis Spitzer has invented two processes at the Nanomaterials for Systems under Extreme Stress laboratory (CNRS/French-German Research Institute Saint Louis/University of Strasbourg) that facilitate the study, formulation and production of sub-micron size particles that no other process can achieve.

For the first time, they can be used to produce pharmaceutical, cosmetic, food and energy transition compounds (batteries, solar cells, etc.) continuously and in industrial quantities. These highly versatile processes, which are economical, safe and have a limited environmental impact, are the subject of 18 patents, including six international ones, and numerous partnerships. "By controlling the reaction on a local scale, we can create new products that are in great demand by industry," says the director of research at the Franco-German Research Institute Saint Louis. Following a pre-maturation phase at the CNRS, Denis Spitzer is developing his discoveries with the company Spinofrin.

Innovation Medal 2022 : Denis Spitzer, unprecedented processes for ultrafine powders by Fabien Carré © CNRS - 2022