Maxi Frei receives 2017 Maria Gräfin von Linden Prize

The Verband Baden-Württembergischer Wissenschaftlerinnen (VBWW) awards this year’s Maria Gräfin von Linden Prize to physicist Maxi Frei from the Laboratory for MEMS Applications at the Institute of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) at the University of Freiburg. She receives the award for her lecture “Electricity from blood sugar,” which she held at the the VBWW symposium, “What research women do - an academic kaleidoscope.” The award comes with 1000 euros in prize money and is aimed at female junior researchers who show research results and didactic aptitude.

Maxi Frei was a scholarship holder in the research training group “Micro Energy Harvesting” from 2013-16 and has been sponsored by the Fritz-Hüttinger Foundation since 2016. For her doctoral thesis, she is investigating implantable glucose fuel cell which can produce energy from the direct electrochemical conversion of the body’s blood sugar from interstitial fluid. This could make it possible in the future to power medical implants, such as pacemakers, without batteries.