Diabetes drug helps repair UV-damaged DNA in cells of "Moon children"
The severe and debilitating genetic disease Xeroderma pigmentosum impedes cells to repair UV-induced DNA damage. Scientists from CeMM found a drug approved for diabetes treatment to alleviate the impact of the gene defect in cell culture, which led to the discovery of a previously unknown DNA repair mechanism. The study was published in Molecular Cell. The destructive force of UV radiation on DNA molecules is only fully visible, when repair…
Pharmacoscopy improves therapy for relapsed blood cancer in a first clinical trial
Researchers at CeMM and the Medical University of Vienna presented a preliminary report published in The Lancet Hematology on the clinical impact of an integrated ex vivo approach termed pharmacoscopy. The interims analysis of the first-ever clinical trial with the approach shows that pharmacoscopy can assist decision-making of the responsible clinicians effectively and thus represent a powerful tool for practical precise and personalized…
When two wrongs make a right: Artificial CRISPR gene disruptions could rescue genetic disease
Defective DNA repair mechanisms can lead to diseases like Fanconi anemia. Utilizing a concept called “synthetic viability”, researchers at CeMM, in international collaboration, found additional gene disruptions that rescue the phenotype of this disease in cell culture and identified the responsible protein complex. The study, published in Nature Communications, intriguingly demonstrates the potential of synthetic viability screens to identify…
Obituary Denise P. Barlow
With great sadness, we inform our colleagues and the scientific community of the decease of Prof. Dr. Denise P. Barlow. Denise died on October 21, 2017 at the age of 67 after severe illness in the company of friends. Denise Barlow was one of the most accomplished geneticists ever to operate in Austria and one of the most inspiring epigeneticists in Europe. Denise Barlow is one of the few researchers who could claim not only to have discovered a…
CeMM-visit of President Alexander Van der Bellen and Mayor Michael Häupl
CeMM had the pleasure to host the Federal President of Austria, Alexander Van der Bellen, and the Mayor of the City of Vienna, Michael Häupl on October 3, 2017. The guests came to our institute on the occasion of CeMM´s 10th anniversary, which we celebrated in September, and to inaugurate our PhD Gallery. Welcomed by CeMM Directors Giulio Superti-Furga and Anita Ender and cheered by the entire staff of CeMM, the guests were accompanied to the…
CeMM Outing 2017 - Göttweig Abby and Schallaburg
On September 29, 2017, the CeMM members went on the annual outing of the institute, to start the academic year with a community experience, to strengthen the relationships with colleagues, and to broaden our horizon. This year, we visited Göttweig Abby and the Schallaburg, both spectacular historic sites in a picturesque landscape. On perfect weather, the trip started with a visit of Göttweig Abby, also known as “Lower Austria´s Montecassino”…
Artificial Hearts Exhibition & Brain Lounge Discussion
On September 28, 2017, Christiane Druml, Director of the Josephinum of the Medical University of Vienna, Curator Moritz Stipsicz, and CeMM Director Giulio Superti-Furga invited to a journey to the very heart of the interface of art and science. On the occasion of the exhibition “Artificial Hearts – The Bridge to Survival” in the Josephinum, a motley audience of artists, physicians, scientists and students visited the astonishing collection of…
EU-LIFE’s Position paper on FP9: Towards better research value in Europe
CeMM is member of EU-LIFE (www.eu-life.eu). EU-LIFE is a European alliance of research centers of excellence in life sciences, whose mission is to support and strengthen European research excellence. Representing over 7,200 scientists and staff distributed in more than 500 research groups across Europe, EU-LIFE is a strong representative of the scientific community throughout Europe. In a position paper we announce our key priorities for the…
10th Anniversary of CeMM
Blistered dancing feet, tissues wet with tears of joy and the taste of cake still on our lips: the 10th anniversary celebration on September 12, 2017 at the Aula der Wissenschaften was CeMM´s biggest, most spectacular and memorable event we had since the opening of our research building. We thank everybody who celebrated with us and who contributed to the success of CeMM over the past years! It is your support and friendship that motivates us…
Allcyte - a new spin-off company from CeMM provides diagnostics and drug discovery for blood cancers
CeMM today officially announces the start of operation of a new spin-off company, Allcyte, founded by CeMM Director Giulio Superti-Furga, Berend Snijder, now Professor at the ETH Zurich, Gregory Vladimer, and Nikolaus Krall. The team met while Snijder, Vladimer, Krall were postdoctoral fellows in the research group of Giulio Superti-Furga. Allcyte supports pre-clinical drug development and clinical decision making services by helping physicians…
Gene variant activity is surprisingly dynamic during development
Every tissue has its own pattern of active alleles (the gene variants inherited from the mother or father),. For the first time, scientists were able to show that the differential allele activity is regulated by tissue-specific, regulatory DNA elements known as enhancers – a process that could also be involved in many diseases. The results of the former CeMM group of Denise Barlow were published in the high-profile open access journal…
Newly discovered rare disease helps understand the complexity of bowel homeostasis
A single-gene mutation may cause a severe bowel disease in children. This could be shown in a recent study by an international research team led by Kaan Boztug at CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Rare and Undiagnosed Diseases (LBI-RUD) together with Michael Lenardo, National Institute of Health (NIH), Bethesda. The newly discovered alterations lead to total…
Order of Merit of the Italian Republic awarded to Giulio Superti-Furga
On June 7th, 2017 Giulio Superti-Furga was awarded the title of Commendatore (Commander) dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (Order of Merit of the Italian Republic) by HE Giorgio Marrapodi, Ambassador of Italy. The order was given by decree of the President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella, who had visited CeMM together with Austria´s former President Heinz Fischer during his first official states visit to Austria in 2015.…
A CLOUD of Possibilities: Finding New Therapies by Combining Drugs
The CeMM Library of Unique Drugs (CLOUD) is the first condensed set of FDA-approved drugs representing the entire target and chemical space of all clinical compounds. Its potential was shown in a combinatorial high throughput screen at the CeMM chemical screening platform and published in Nature Chemical Biology: A pair of hitherto unrelated drugs proved to be highly effective against multiple prostate cancer cell lines. (Vienna, May 22, 2017)…
Taking out the Cell Garbage with Chemical Degraders
The 11th CeMM Landsteiner Lecture, held by James “Jay” Bradner, President of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) on May 15, 2017, was a truly memorable event: with enthusiasm and with great incisiveness, Dr. Bradner illustrated for the audience principles and examples of medical innovation and eloquently argued about their impact on the whole of humankind. This year’s CeMM Landsteiner Lecture was accompanied by the wonderful…
