CeMM community and Alumni network at Vienna Ball of Sciences
CeMM was well represented at the 11th Vienna Ball of Sciences with its current members, and also many former CeMMies. We are grateful to the Alumni Board that used the ball also for a gathering of CeMM Alumnae/Alumni. The Science Ball became a highly regarded tradition in our community. We had fun, we danced, we laughed, we met people we had missed, we made new contacts, we were inspired and forged new plans. Thank you again, Oliver Lehmann,…
Boosting the Cell’s Own Cleanup: New Molecules Accelerate Protein Degradation
Cells have a remarkable housekeeping system: proteins that are no longer needed, defective, or potentially harmful are labeled with a molecular “tag” and dismantled in the cellular recycling machinery. This process, known as the ubiquitin-proteasome system, is crucial for health and survival. Now, an international team of scientists led by CeMM, AITHYRA and the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund has identified a new class of…
Season’s Greetings 2025
As we wrap up another year full of scientific discoveries, successes, and collaboration, we want to thank our colleagues, partners, and friends for your continued support and for being part of our scientific journey. We wish everyone a joyful holiday season and look forward to an exciting new year ahead. Merry Christmas, happy holidays and a happy New Year from all of us at CeMM!
Tick saliva alters immune response of skin cells
New insights into the transmission of the Lyme disease pathogen: A research team led by the Medical University of Vienna and CeMM has gained new insights into how ticks influence the human immune system in order to introduce pathogens. The study shows that the saliva of Ixodes ricinus – the most common tick species in Central Europe – plays a central role in altering the immune response of skin cells, thereby facilitating the transmission of the…
Stop through SPOP: Vienna-based Researchers Develop Strategy Against Aggressive Blood Cancer
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with NUP98 fusions (NUP98-r) is an aggressive form of blood cancer. It is caused by a chromosomal rearrangement that abnormally fuses the NUP98 gene with other genes, resulting in the formation of NUP98 fusion oncoproteins. Until now, there have been no therapeutic strategies to directly inactivate NUP98 fusion oncoproteins. Researchers from CeMM, the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna and the St. Anna…
From Inhibition to Destruction – Kinase Drugs Found to Trigger Protein Degradation
For decades, kinase inhibitors have been a mainstay of cancer therapy, designed to switch off enzymes that fuel uncontrolled cell growth. But new research shows that these drugs often go further: they can also cause the very proteins they target to be dismantled by the cell, making them yet another tool for the emerging field of Targeted Protein Degradation (TPD). In a new study published in Nature (DOI 10.1038/s41586-025-09763-9), scientists at…
15th CeMM S.M.A.R.T. Lecture With Alice Auersperg
What we long believed to make us humans uniquely special - intelligence, innovation, and the use of tools - has been thoroughly debunked. Few researchers illustrate this more brilliantly than Alice Auersperg, whose work on the innovative capabilities of birds formed the centerpiece of the 15th S.M.A.R.T. Lecture, held on 17 November 2025 at CeMM. The evening opened with a highlight: CeMM’s Scientific Director, Giulio Superti-Furga, awarded the…
An Exciting Journey Comes to an End
CeMM has been a proud member of the EU-LIFE alliance since its creation in 2013, actively contributing to activities, working groups, projects, and events that advanced the EU-LIFE's agenda. CeMM, represented by the Directors Giulio Superti-Furga and Anita Ender, served as EU-LIFE co-chair (2022–2023) and chair (2024–2025), being supported by EU-LIFE Executive Director Marta Agostinho and her team based at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG)…
Chatting with Your Cells: Natural-Language AI for Single-Cell Data Analysis
Single-cell sequencing provides great insights into the inner workings of cells – but making sense of the data requires advanced bioinformatics skills. Researchers at CeMM, Medical University of Vienna, and St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research Institute have now developed an artificial intelligence (AI) method and software tool that lets scientists explore such datasets through natural-language conversations – speaking English with the computer…
Maria Rescigno New Director of CeMM
ÖAW President Heinz Faßmann welcomes a highly accomplished researcher as the new Director of CeMM the Research Center for Molecular Medicine. Maria Rescigno, the 57-year-old Italian scientist specialized in the gut-brain axis, will demonstrate that gut-derived immune stimuli can train the brain’s immune borders. Maria Rescigno, will lead the Academy Institute as Scientific Director, alongside Anita Ender, Administrative Director of CeMM. Rescigno…
The Enzyme that Acts Through Structure, Not Catalysis
A surprising discovery reveals how a single protein helps cells decide when to make the building blocks of DNA. Researchers at CeMM, together with collaborators from the University of Oxford, have discovered that the enzyme NUDT5 acts not through its chemical activity, but as a physical “scaffold” that helps switch off a key metabolic pathway when purine levels are high. The study, published in Science (DOI 10.1126/science.adv4257), reveals a…
How Immune Cells Deliver Their Deadly Cargo
When immune cells strike, precision is everything. New research reveals how natural killer and T cells orchestrate the release of toxic granules – microscopic packages that destroy virus-infected or cancerous cells. The study led by researchers from CeMM, St. Anna CCRI, MedUni Vienna, Med Uni Graz, the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn, published in Science Immunology (DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.ado3825), uncovers an…
CeMM Researchers Win Three “Transfer Science to Spin-off” Grants From the Christian Doppler Research Association
CeMM celebrates a major success in the 2024 call of the Christian Doppler Research Association´s Transfer Science to Spin-off program. Three CeMM researchers – Project Scientist Danica Drpić (from the team of Adjunct Principal Investigator Miriam Unterlass), Adjunct Principal Investigator Georg Winter (together with his Postdoc Juraj Konc), and Principal Investigator Christoph Bock – have each been awarded a grant to advance innovative research…
CeMM Outing 2025
On 3 October 2025, the CeMM community gathered for the annual outing at the historic Theater an der Wien. Built in 1801 by Mozart’s librettist Emanuel Schikaneder, the theatre has hosted many world premieres, including Beethoven’s Fidelio. Reopened in 2006 as Vienna’s “new opera house,” it remains a cultural landmark and was the perfect setting for our 2025 theme: “changing the scenery.” CeMM colleagues enjoyed guided tours that offered a…
Boosting the Body’s Cancer Fighters: CRISPR Screens Unlock the Potential of CAR T Cells
CAR T cells have revolutionized the treatment of certain blood cancers, but they often fail. A new study published in Nature (DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09507-9) by scientists at CeMM and the Medical University of Vienna introduces a novel CRISPR screening platform, which discovered unexpected genetic edits that make CAR T cells more effective as cancer therapies. CAR T cells are patient-derived, genetically engineered immune cells. They are…
