LHZ analytics GmbH

LHZ analytics GmbH as a spin-off of hereon

LHZ analytics is an agile, ambitious and science-driven start-up company that uses cutting-edge technology to investigate and understand the contamination of drinking water and environmental samples with microplastic particles and synthetic fibers - commonly known as microplastics.

Photo: Hereon / The founders Dr Lars Hildebrandt and Dr Tristan Zimmermann with samples ready for spectroscopic analysis.

Highlight is the establishment of a specialized chemical-analytical laboratory, LHZ analytics GmbH, for the analysis of microplastics in environmental samples. The service portfolio also includes consulting services on topics such as sampling, sample preparation and analysis of microplastics, as well as carrying out demo measurements. The company is primarily dedicated to the analysis of drinking water and aqueous environmental samples such as seawater, but also more complex samples (e.g. food, tissue or sediments). LHZ analytics was founded at the beginning of 2024 as a spin-off of Hereon, which enables the rental of the necessary laboratory infrastructure by means of a rental agreement. Both founders (Dr. Lars Hildebrandt and Dr. Tristan Zimmermann) are currently employed as scientists at the Helmholtz-Zentrum hereon.

As part of their employment, the founders have received direct and increasingly frequent inquiries from project partners and companies from various sectors of the economy regarding the analysis of samples. Requests from device manufacturers (including Agilent Technologies) for independent demo measurements and scientifically sound advice has also been registered. Dr. Hildebrandt is currently playing a key role in setting up and operating a state-of-the-art microplastics laboratory as part of the HGF innovation platform SOOP - Shaping an Ocean Of Possibilities for science-industry collaboration. The innovation platform is intended to enable the analysis of environmental samples for microplastics in a reproducible and, if possible, automated manner.

There is a complementary target relationship between LHZ analytics and the SOOP innovation platform, which the Helmholtz Association considers to be very important. The microplastics laboratory, which was set up as part of SOOP in accordance with the implementation plan, is intended to fulfill precisely the above-mentioned purposes from an economic point of view. As the SOOP innovation platform (Helmholtz funding line “Innovation platforms as sustainable and structure-building measures to strengthen transfer and innovation”) explicitly aims to transfer knowledge and technology from science to industry, LHZ analytics acts as an excellent showcase for a start-up that has benefited from or been created by the innovation platform.