CeMM congratulates Adjunct Principal Investigator Joanna Loizou on being awarded the Mannagetta Prize of the Austrian Academy of Sciences for her remarkable research work in the field of genome stability in oncology. In 2021, the Johann Wilhelm Ritter von Mannagetta Award for Medicine is given for outstanding work investigating the mechanisms of cancer genesis.

Understanding complex systems to pave the way for better cancer treatment is the goal of molecular biologist Joanna Loizou. Cancer develops when DNA damage blocks the human cell's conventional control mechanisms. But what genetic interactions are required for DNA repair and cell…

Diversity, professionalism, and respect are core values at CeMM, we actively promote respectful cooperation in an open and inclusive workplace. On 28 June 2021, the signing of the #postivearbeiten declaration took place at CeMM, symbolizing yet another step forward in our continuous commitment to provide all our employees with an optimal work environment where they can develop themselves and contribute to CeMM’s success in the field of medical research.

With timely diagnosis and treatment, people with HIV have nowadays an almost average life expectancy and can live and work like other people. For many HIV-positive people, discrimination and…

On 1 July 2021, Clarissa Campbell joins CeMM, the Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, as new Principal Investigator. She focuses on intestinal pathogens and intestinal immune homeostasis, thus strengthening CeMM’s core expertise in the fields of immunity and metabolism.

Clarissa Campbell studied biology with a minor in genetics at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), and subsequently earned a master’s degree from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ) investigating how bacterial molecules exert immunomodulatory effects on mammalian cells via nuclear receptors, a topic she would continue to…

A detailed vocabulary to identify and explore rare, congenital immune disorders around the world? That is exactly what is now available thanks to a new study led by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Rare and Undiagnosed Diseases in Vienna and the University Medical Center Groningen. Congenital immune disorders often affect only a handful of children around the world. The now published expansion of the nomenclature allows us to better analyze, identify, and treat these diseases.

When a child in Austria falls ill with a rare immunodeficiency, their treating physician will often like to know experience with similar cases around the world. Has…

The new REsolution consortium is a public-private research partnership, supported by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), with nine partners from academia and the pharmaceutical industry. Starting on June 1, 2021 and with a duration of 2 years, the project aims to understand how genetic variants in humans affect the function of hundreds of cellular transporters.  

How do molecules such as vitamins, nutrients and drugs enter our organs and cells? Why do some of us take up certain molecules more easily than others? The REsolution consortium studies how differences in the genetic makeup of so-called transporter genes, encoding proteins…

Molecular analysis of single cells provides an important basis for precision medicine. Five years ago, scientists around the world came together to pursue the “Human Cell Atlas” project, with the aim of cataloging all cells in the human body. These data have helped, for example, to identify those cell types that the coronavirus can infect particularly well. To accelerate and improve the creation of such cell catalogs, Paul Datlinger and André F. Rendeiro from Christoph Bock’s research group at CeMM developed a new method that enables single-cell RNA sequencing in a very large number of individual cells at the same time.

This method, which is…

The 14th Landsteiner Lecture was held virtually on 10 May 2021 by Sarah Teichmann, Head of Cellular Genetics at the Wellcome Sanger Institute (UK), with a special focus on the Global Human Cell Atlas Consortium, which she co-founded in 2016.

The CeMM Landsteiner Lecture series is named in honor of Karl Landsteiner, the Viennese scientist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for discovering blood groups. The invited speakers, carefully selected by CeMM Faculty, are prominent scientists whose molecular research is deemed to have had a significant impact on medicine. From 2007 to 2018, the lecture was held in the stunning 18th century frescoed…

Numerous disease development processes are linked to epigenetic modulation. One protein involved in the process of modulation and identified as an important cancer marker is BRD4. A recent study by the research group of Giulio Superti-Furga, Principal Investigator and Scientific Director at the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, now shows that the supply of purines as well as the purine synthesis of a cell can influence BRD4 activity and thus play a role in the carcinogenesis process. The findings were published in Nature Metabolism.

Chromatin is a central component of the cell nucleus. It refers…

On 27 April 2021, CeMM hosted its 10th S.M.A.R.T. Lecture with Orly Goldwasser, Professor of Egyptology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an Honorary Professor at the University of Göttingen.

The S.M.A.R.T. lecture series is an initiative launched by CeMM dedicated to diverse topics around the fields of science, medicine, art, research, and technology. They address contemporary challenges of science in an interdisciplinary manner and at the interface of science and society, with the aim of establishing an open dialogue with the broader public. Once a year CeMM invites an international speaker renowned for having made extraordinary…