Open Postdoc positions at CeMM
We are recruiting a group of postdocs who are eager to pursue ground-breaking biomedical research, and we will help them to establish themselves as future scientific leaders. This postdoc program is designed to prepare postdoctoral researchers for a successful ERC Starting Grant application or equivalent and for an independent research career in top research organizations in Europe and around the world. The postdoc program is based at the CeMM…
Drug discovery: New method identifies E3-specific degraders for targeted therapies
For many years, the team of Principal Investigator Georg Winter at CeMM has been researching the development of Targeted Protein Degraders: a new generation of drugs that achieve greater therapeutic success through the targeted degradation of harmful, pathogenic proteins. In their current study, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), the researchers present a new method for the identification of molecules that could act…
Stem cell transplantation: Processes for the restoration of the immune system discovered
In stem cell transplants, which are used for the treatment of leukaemia, the patient's haematopoietic system is eliminated and replaced by haematopoietic cells from donors. Even though the amount of complications occurring in this process is steadily decreasing due to medical progress, the exact mechanisms for the restoration of the immune system in these patients have not yet been conclusively clarified. Researchers at MedUni Vienna, the CeMM…
Single-cell sequencing on granulomas opens new therapeutic approaches for sarcoidosis
Granulomas are an accumulation of immune cells in the tissue, often the result of an overactive immune response. Granulomas contribute to several inflammatory systemic diseases such as sarcoidosis, berylliosis, and rheumatoid arthritis. For the first time, scientists at CeMM, the Medical University of Vienna and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Rare and Undiagnosed Diseases have thoroughly characterized granulomas in the skin in immense detail.…
From octopus to elephant: a molecular zoo of epigenetics
Christoph Bock’s team at the CeMM established a catalog of DNA methylation across 580 animal species. These data enabled a detailed dissection of the evolution of epigenetic regulation and the epigenome. The new study, published in Nature Communications, shows that the characteristic DNA methylation signatures of animal genomes are evolutionarily very old, having emerged long before the first mammals. Surprisingly, DNA methylation in starfish and…
Season Greetings 2022
2022 has been a special year for all of us, and we would like to thank our CeMM members and collaborators for their effort and dedication to research. After 15 years of pioneering work, we wanted to see our achievements, our constant development, our innovations in medicine also in our corporate identity. We unveiled a new corporate design and claim that reflects our CeMM principles and goals to improve healthcare. Because Science is our…
Tackling high-risk leukemia: Austrian Science Fund FWF promotes precision oncology at St. Anna CCRI
The innovative "ExTrAct AML" project, funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, goes beyond established frontiers to investigate acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in children and adolescents. Individual patient profiles should provide early information on the causes of disease progression or treatment resistance – and how to take countermeasures in time. In contrast to previous approaches, these profiles not only include comprehensive (epi)genetic…
Blocking DNA production in cancer therapy by targeting POLΘ
In a recent study, researchers from Joanna Loizou’s group from CeMM and the Medical University of Vienna investigated the POLΘ enzyme and the role it plays in DNA repair. Inhibiting POLΘ represents a new approach for developing specific therapies, in particular for patients with BRCA1 mutations. The study, published in Cell Reports, shows for the first time that POLΘ fills the gaps in single-stranded DNA that excessively occur in a…
CeMM Scientific Advisory Board Meeting 2022
On strategic and scientific questions, CeMM of the Austrian Academy of Sciences is advised by a board of international top-scientists. On November 13-16, 2022, the CeMM Scientific Advisory Board Meeting took place in Waidhofen an der Ybbs (Austria). We thank our Scientific Advisory Board members Carl-Henrik Heldin, Ewan Birney, Aaron Ciechanover, Richard Flavell, Janet Kelso, Hidde Ploegh and Derek Tan for their precious time, fruitful…
ÖAW President Heinz Faßmann visits CeMM
We had the honor to welcome Prof. Heinz Faßmann, President of the Austrian Academy of Sciences at CeMM! This is his first visit since he became ÖAW President in July this year, and it was a good meeting to present the institute, our research efforts and the innovation carried out by our scientists. President Faßmann was welcomed by CeMM Scientific Director Giulio Superti-Furga and Administrative Director Anita Ender, who guided him through the…
Preventing resistance in cancer therapy
The latest developmental drugs, particularly for the use in oncology, rely on the targeted degradation of harmful pathogenic proteins. In a recent study, researchers at CeMM, the Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and the University of Dundee (UK) identify potential resistance mechanisms and provide insights on how to overcome them. Traditional targeted cancer therapies mainly rely on drugs that bind…
3rd REsolution and 7th RESOLUTE Consortia Meetings
From October 19 and 20-21, 2022, the consortia meetings of REsolution and RESOLUTE took place in Berlin. The event, hosted by Bayer, gathered 60 international participants. The REsolution and RESOLUTE consortia are public-private research partnerships supported by the Innovative Health Initiative (IHI), the European Union and EFPIA, coordinated by CeMM and Pfizer, and with partners from academia and the pharmaceutical industry. The RESOLUTE…
Skin microbiome identified as factor in stem cell transplants
Organ damage occurs in up to 70 percent of patients in the first few months following stem cell transplant. The precise reasons for this potentially life-threatening reaction have long been the subject of scientific research. Researchers led by CeMM Adjunct Principal Investigator Georg Stary from the Department of Dermatology at MedUni Vienna and Vienna General Hospital in collaboration with the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Rare and…
A simple online calculator detects liver cirrhosis patients at high risk for clinical complications
Researchers at CeMM, the Medical University of Vienna (MedUni Vienna), and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Rare and Undiagnosed Diseases (LBI-RUD) joined efforts to use their expertise in machine learning and management of patients with cirrhosis to develop a non-invasive algorithm that can help clinicians to identify patients with cirrhosis at highest risk for severe complications. Cirrhosis develops in response to repeated injury to the…
Study demonstrates for the first time that ticks weaken skin's immune response
Hitherto, scientists have not fully understood why ticks are such dangerous disease vectors. A research team led by Johanna Strobl and CeMM Adjunct Principal Investigator Georg Stary from MedUni Vienna's Department of Dermatology shows that tick saliva inhibits the skin's defence function, thereby increasing the risk of diseases such as tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) or Lyme disease. The study was recently published in the Journal of Clinical…
