SARS-CoV-2 mutations can complicate immune surveillance of human T-killer cells
The body’s immune response plays a crucial role in the course of a SARS-CoV-2 infection. In addition to antibodies, the so-called T-killer cells, are also responsible for detecting viruses in the body and eliminating them. Scientists from the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Medical University of Vienna have now shown that SARS-CoV-2 can make itself unrecognizable to the immune response by…
Solgate closes its first financing round with IST cube and private investors
Joint CeMM-IST Austria start-up develops new class of drugs targeting solute carrier proteins <link 1211 - internal-link "Opens internal link in current window">Solgate GmbH</link>, an Austrian early-stage biotech company, announces the completion of its first financing round from a group of venture and private investors. Solgate was incorporated in 2020 by a high-profile founding team and with intellectual property from the leading research…
New research groups at CeMM: Barbara Maier, Georg Busslinger and Davide Seruggia
At the beginning of 2021, Barbara Maier, Georg Busslinger and Davide Seruggia joined CeMM, the Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Barbara Maier as Principal Investigator at CeMM, Georg Busslinger and Davide Seruggia as CeMM Adjunct Principal Investigators, Georg having his main affiliation at the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology of the Medical University of Vienna and Davide at St. Anna…
Inhibition of the BAF complex causes rapid loss of DNA accessibility
When human cells have to adapt due to a wide variety of external influences, the BAF complex plays a central role because it controls the accessibility of the DNA and thus the information stored in it. In every fifth human cancer, a mutation is found in one of the BAF complex genes. Scientists from the research group of Principal Investigator Stefan Kubicek at the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences…
5th RESOLUTE Consortium Meeting (27-29 January 2021)
On 27 - 29 January 2021, the 5th RESOLUTE Consortium Meeting took place virtually. RESOLUTE is a public-private partnership, funded with a grant from the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) and coordinated by CeMM and Pfizer, with 13 partners from academia and industry. Its mission is to increase the study of solute carriers for medical research and potential drug development, and it strives to become a reference hub for SLC research and open…
How does next-generation sequencing work and how long does it take?
An interdisciplinary team led by Andreas Bergthaler and Christoph Bock at CeMM is sequencing around 400 virus samples from Austria per week for the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES). The goal is to look for specific SARS-CoV-2 variants with multiple spike protein mutations, and to learn more about the molecular understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic and the causative pathogen. The enclosed illustration demonstrates the standard…
Denise P. Barlow Award Call is open
The second call of the Denise P. Barlow Award for best thesis on biological mechanisms is now open. Denise was a CeMM Principal Investigator for ten years until her passing and was also associated with other three research institutions in Vienna: as a group leader in IMP, a professor in Max Perutz Labs and she was also provided with laboratory space at IMBA. These four institutions decided to launch a yearly academic talent award in Denise’s…
Mutational Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in Austria: UK and South Africa variants found in Austria
Over the last few weeks, the United Kingdom and South Africa have faced a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases leading to enhanced epidemiological and virological investigations. Analysis of viral genome sequence data identified a sizeable proportion of cases belonging to new phylogenetic clusters. The new SARS-CoV-2 variants are defined by nonsynonymous, several of which are found in the viral spike protein, and still of uncertain functional…
Christoph Bock becomes Professor of Medical Informatics at MedUni Vienna
Christoph Bock has been appointed as professor of medical informatics at the Medical University of Vienna and head of the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Decision Support at CeMSIIS, starting 1 January 2021. The bioinformatician and genome researcher joins MedUni Vienna from the neighboring CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He will continue to lead his research group at CeMM, complementary…
CeMM supports the Seitenwechsel initiative
Seitenwechsel is a spin-off of the MEGA Education Foundation, which promotes innovative educational initiatives in the areas of chance/fairness and business competence/life skills to support Austrian talent. Seitenwechsel is looking for committed and determined teachers who would like to take the opportunity to deepen their experience by working in a company for a year. On the second year, they will bring impulses from their professional…
Season greetings 2020
CeMM continues to be a place where biomedical research excellence goes hand in hand with social responsibility and innovation. With our two new spin-off companies Proxygen and Solgate, with our project on the “Mutational Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in Austria”, where CeMM has contributed the majority (>98%) of SARS-CoV-2 virus genomes from Austria to the public database GISAID. With many scientific publications and grants in 2020, resulting from our…
Mutational Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in Austria
Following its quest to create the molecular basis for precision medicine and wishing to contribute to fight the COVID-19 pandemia, scientists at CeMM have been sequencing the SARS-CoV-2 genome since March 2020. An interdisciplinary team led by Andreas Bergthaler and Christoph Bock have since obtained more than 1100 samples from Austria, of which 747 resulted in full-length high quality SARS-CoV-2 genomes. These are deposited in the public…
Hematoxylin as a killer of CALR mutant cancer cells: New therapeutic approach for the treatment of primary myelofibrosis
Patients with myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN), a group of malignant diseases of the bone marrow, often have a carcinogenic mutated form of the calreticulin gene (CALR). Scientists of the research group of Robert Kralovics, Adjunct Principal Investigator at the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and group leader at the Medical University of Vienna, have now identified hematoxylin as a novel CALR…
ERC Consolidator Grant awarded to CeMM Principal Investigator Christoph Bock
We congratulate Christoph Bock, Principal Investigator at CeMM and Guest Professor at the Medical University of Vienna, for receiving a prestigious and well-endowed ERC Consolidator Grant of the European Research Council. ERC Consolidator Grants are awarded to outstanding researchers of any nationality and age, with seven to twelve years of experience after PhD, and a scientific track record showing great promise and achievement. Christoph Bock…
CeMM's spin-off Proxygen enters new partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim to explore molecular glue degraders
CeMM congratulates its spin-off Proxygen on its new collaboration and license agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim. Their new partnership announced today will enable the identification of molecular glue degraders in the aim of degrading cancer drivers that were previously considered undruggable. The collaboration combines Proxygen’s unique molecular glue degrader discovery platform and its expertise in targeted protein degradation with Boehringer…
