The Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) is further expanding its focus on life sciences by opening an institute for Biomedical Artificial Intelligence (AI) based on a € 150 million funding from the German non-profit Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation (BIS). The new institute, called AITHYRA, will make revolutionary advances in biomedicine by developing AI-based research approaches. It will make a significant contribution to the advancement of human health with the knowledge gained from working with AI. 

The foundation and OeAW were able to win Michael Bronstein, DeepMind Professor at the University of Oxford, as founding director of the institute. CeMM Admin Director Anita Ender will take over the management of the AITHYRA Institute, and will form a bridge to the medical Campus Vienna. The AITHYRA Institute will be located in a newly constructed building at the Vienna BioCenter (VBC) in Wien-Landstraße. It will benefit from the successful life science environment of university and non-university institutes. Two thirds of the funds required for the housing of the institute will be provided by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research and one third by a grant from the City of Vienna. The Vienna Business Agency has been commissioned to construct a new building as the institute’s final location by the City of Vienna.

You can find the press release and follow the development of the institute under https://www.oeaw.ac.at/aithyra/ 

CeMM Director Giulio Superti-Furga “The CeMM community wishes Michael Bronstein and Anita Ender all the best for their future endeavors. AITHYRA, our new sister institute, can be sure of CeMM support and friendly competition. Let’s spur each other on to top performance and scientific breakthroughs!”