News

CeMM warmly congratulates its founding director, Giulio Superti-Furga, on his appointment as the scientific founding director of the newly established CORI Institute for Metabolism Research in Graz! The new institute was created through a unique partnership between the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the University of Graz, the Medical University of Graz, and the Graz University of Technology.

CORI aims to become one of Europe’s leading interdisciplinary centers for metabolism research. The institute will systematically investigate metabolic processes in cells through experimental and molecular biological approaches and model them using mathematical methods, with the goal of understanding, modulating, and engineering these processes to develop new therapeutic and technological solutions. At CeMM, Giulio Superti-Furga will remain Adjunct Principal Investigator.

Outstanding scientist and experienced institution builder

Giulio Superti-Furga is one of Europe’s most distinguished biomedical scientists and brings extensive leadership experience in research institutions. As CeMM's founding director, which he led for two decades, he built an internationally recognized institute at the interface of biology, medicine, and data science. A four-time ERC awardee, he is Professor of Medical Systems Biology at the Medical University of Vienna, member of five scientific academies, and co-founder of five biotechnology companies. Most recently, Superti-Furga contributed his expertise to the development of the research center of the Ri.MED Foundation in Palermo. In 2024 and 2025 he was chair of EU-LIFE, the alliance of independent European research institutes in the life sciences.

Advancing human health through metabolism research

The CORI Institute is named after Gerty Cori and Carl Cori, pioneers of metabolism research who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1947. CORI will address major challenges in human health and aims to become the leading center for metabolism-oriented science, enabling predictive models of health and disease as well as new strategies to strengthen human resilience. By combining experimental approaches with artificial intelligence and mathematical modeling, the institute seeks to develop comprehensive models of human metabolism and translate them into new therapies. In parallel, CORI will work toward the targeted design, modulation, and technological application of metabolic systems. Researchers from biology, medicine, mathematics, computer science, and engineering will collaborate closely in interdisciplinary teams.

Giulio Superti-Furga, Founding Director of the CORI Institute, says: “It is an honor and a privilege to build the CORI Institute in Graz and to leverage Graz’s excellence in metabolism research to create a new international beacon of science. Metabolism is not simply one research field among many — it is the organizing logic of life. Our goal is to establish a new kind of institute that combines mathematics, artificial intelligence, and experimental biology to make metabolism understandable and predictable, while also enabling its active design, control, and technological application. At CORI, I see the opportunity to apply my experience in building and shaping research institutions in order to create an institute that brings together the most attractive and forward-looking elements of modern biomedical science.”

Heinz Faßmann, President of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, adds: “Metabolism research has emerged as one of the key fields shaping the future of modern biomedicine. With Giulio Superti-Furga, we have appointed an internationally outstanding scientist and highly experienced institution builder to establish the CORI Institute. He brings with him a strong international network as well as close ties to the Academy’s life science institutes and to the Austrian Academy of Sciences as a whole. This constellation further strengthens Graz as a focal point of our activities in Styria and consolidates its position as a leading hub for biomedical research in Austria and beyond.”

We warmly congratulate Giulio Superti-Furga on this important new chapter and wish him every success in building a bold and internationally visible institute for metabolism research in Graz! As a fellow institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences with a shared commitment to advancing biomedical science through interdisciplinary collaboration, CeMM looks forward to many future interactions, scientific exchanges, and collaborative initiatives with the new CORI Institute!