The Vienna BioCenter is a cluster of

life science Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, organisation, metabolism, growth, adaptation, respon ...

research institutes and

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

companies located in the 3rd municipal District of

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, Austria. It grew around the

Research Institute of Molecular Pathology The Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) is a biomedical research center, which conducts curiosity-driven basic research in the molecular life sciences. The IMP is located at the Vienna Biocenter in Vienna, Austria. The institute empl ...

(IMP), which opened in 1988. The entities at the Vienna BioCenter employ more than 2,000 people, including 600 students.

Structure

As of 2020, the Vienna BioCenter is an association of six research entities, 38

biotech Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists in the field are kn ...

companies, 1 outreach organisation, 4 service companies and 2

business incubators A business incubator is an organization that helps startup companies and individual entrepreneurs to develop their businesses by providing a fullscale range of services, starting with management training and office space, and ending with ventu ...

. There are four basic research institutes on campus: the

(IMP), the Max Perutz Labs of the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

and

Medical University of Vienna The Medical University of Vienna (MedUni Wien, German language, German: ''Medizinische Universität Wien'') is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It is the direct successor to the faculty of medicine at the University of Vienna, foun ...

, the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) of the

Austrian Academy of Sciences The Austrian Academy of Sciences (; ÖAW) is a legal entity under the special protection of the Republic of Austria. According to the statutes of the Academy its mission is to promote the sciences and humanities in every respect and in every fi ...

(ÖAW), and the Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology (GMI), also of the ÖAW. These institutes maintain a joint international PhD programme. The University Biology Building (UBB) houses parts of the Faculty of Life Sciences and the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science (CeMESS), both part of the

. In September 2024, the Boehringer Ingelheim Stiftung and Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) incepted the Aithyra Institute, a research organisation for

Artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

and biomedicine. The
Vienna BioCenter Core Facilities
(VBCF) offer central services, largely scientific, but also including a child care centre.

Awards

Kim Nasmyth Kim Ashley Nasmyth (born 18 October 1952) is an English geneticist, the Whitley Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Oxford, a Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, former scientific director of the Research Institute of Molecular Pathol ...

, emeritus director of the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), currently at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, received the 2018

Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences The Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences is a scientific award, funded by internet entrepreneurs Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan of Facebook; Sergey Brin of Google; entrepreneur and venture capitalist Yuri Milner; and Anne Wojcicki, one of t ...

for his work on

chromosome segregation Chromosome segregation is the process in eukaryotes by which two sister chromatids formed as a consequence of DNA replication, or paired homologous chromosomes, separate from each other and migrate to opposite poles of the nucleus. This segreg ...

. After receiving the 2015

, the 2020

Nobel Prize for Chemistry The Nobel Prize in Chemistry () is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outst ...

was awarded to

Emmanuelle Charpentier Emmanuelle Marie Charpentier (; born 11 December 1968) is a French professor and researcher in microbiology, genetics, and biochemistry. As of 2015, she has been a director at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin. In 2018, sh ...

and

Jennifer Doudna Jennifer Anne Doudna (; born February 19, 1964) is an American biochemist who has pioneered work in CRISPR gene editing, and made other fundamental contributions in biochemistry and genetics. She received the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, wit ...

for their groundbreaking discoveries on the CRISPR/Cas9 system. Emmanuelle Charpentier was a principal investigator at the Max Perutz Labs at the

from 2002 to 2009, where she laid the groundwork for developing the technology. As of May 2021, scientists of the Vienna BioCenter institutes have been awarded 57 ERC grants and eleven Wittgenstein Awards.

References

External links

* {{authority control Research institutes in Austria Biological research institutes Organisations based in Vienna Research institutes established in 1988 1988 establishments in Austria