Last week, on 16–17 October 2026, the Austrian Society for Stem Cell Research held its annual conference in the beautiful Kuppelsaal at the Vienna University of Technology.
Well over 100 participants, 24 posters and 4 sessions featuring talks and a round table discussion on the future of stem cell research in Austria may not sound like much, but for this small society it represents a huge surge in interest.
Particular mention must be made of our invited speakers, Prof. Dr Wolfram-Hubertus Zimmermann (University of Göttingen) and Prof. Dr Ana Martin-Villalba (DKFZ Heidelberg), who provided an insight into their fascinating research findings.
The networking social event on 16 October was brought to a magical close with a performance by mentalist Philipp Oberlohr.
Even scientists cannot resist the fascination of magic.
A big thank you to all our sponsors, without whom this two-day meeting would not have been possible!
Goals
Stem cell research is one of the most promising areas of biomedical research – it is revolutionising basic research and offers immense opportunities for the development of novel therapeutic approaches.
The Austrian Society for Stem Cell Research will accompany and support the rapid progress in stem cell research in a national context and has set itself the following goals:
Stem cell research is a key determinant for the sustainable development of the
Austrian knowledge society and the country's future economic performance.
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Creating a platform for public relations
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National and international networking and promoting young talent
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Improving the funding and research structure
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Beratungsgremium
Marius Wernig
Executive Committee
Dirk Strunk
Prof. Dirk Strunk is Head of the Institute for Experimental and Clinical Cell Therapy at Paracelsus Medical University in Salzburg (PMU) and Director of Research and Development at Austrian Red Cross Research GmbH in Vienna (ÖRK).
Over the past 20 years, Dirk Strunk has specialised in stem cell transplantation and cell therapy and conducted research in these fields.
Nicole Amberg
Nicole Amberg is a neuroscientist at IST Austria.
She is committed to gender equality in science and founded the STEM fatale initiative.
She also teaches children about scientific concepts through her organisation 'Wissen schafft’s' (Knowledge Creates).
Markus Hengstschläger
Head of the Center
for Pathobiochemistry and Genetics
Head of the Institute of Medical Genetics
Medical University of Vienna
Research interests: pluripotent stem cells, amniotic fluid stem cells, reproductive genetics, embryoid bodies, development of new therapeutic approaches for human genetic diseases.
Jürgen Knoblich
Interim Director of the Institute of
Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA), Vienna
Head of the Department of Brain Development
and Disease
Research interests: Neural stem cells, brain organoids, cancer
Elly Tanaka
Frank Edenhofer
Senior Scientist at the Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Vienna
Head of the Department of Molecular Mechanisms
of Vertebrate Regeneration
Research interests: Regenerative biology
Director of the Institute of Molecular Biology
Head of the Department of Genomics,
Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine
Leopold Franzens University Innsbruck & CMBI
Research interests: Cell reprogramming, neural regeneration and cell therapy
Founding Members
Peter Valent
Johann Bauer
Georg Dechant
Medical University Vienna
Paracelsus Medical Private University Salzburg
Medical University Innsbruck
Advisory Board
Franziska Michor
Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Department of Biostatistics, Harvard University USA
Research interests: Evolutionary dynamics of
cancer development, response to therapy, and development of resistance
Marius Wernig
Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine Stanford University USA
Research interests: Cell reprogramming, neural mouse stem cells, alternative treatment strategies for glioblastoma
Konrad Hochedlinger
Department of Molecular Biology
Massachusetts General Hospital
Harvard University, USA
Research interests: Role of stem cells
in development and disease onset
Contact
asscr.at
Österreichische Gesellschaft für Stammzellforschung
c/o Zentrum für Pathobiochemie und Genetik
Institut für Medizinische Genetik
Medizinische Universität Wien
Währinger Straße 10
1090 Wien, Österreich
Telefon: +43 699 144 20089
E-Mail: info@asscr.at (z.Hd. Cornelia Adhero)