The Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) is an independent biomedical research organisation founded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences in cooperation with the pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim. The institute employs around 250 people from over 40 countries, who perform basic research. IMBA is located at the Vienna BioCenter (VBC) and shares facilities and scientific training programs with the Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology (GMI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), the basic research center of Boehringer Ingelheim.
Research
The research at IMBA aims to understand the fundamental molecular biological processes underlying the 3D architecture of genomes, the functions of small RNAs, and the in vitro reconstitution from stem cells of whole organs and embryos.
The institute comprises 15 research groups (as of December 2022):
Stefan Ameres (adjunct group): Mechanism and biology of RNA silencing. Developer of the SLAMseq technology. Julius Brennecke: Transposon silencing & heterochromatin formation by small RNAs. Pioneer in the discovery of the piRNA/Piwi pathway. Alejandro Burga: Molecular determinants of biological idiosyncrasy. Ulrich Elling: Functional genomics in embryonic stem cells. Developer of Haplobank. Daniel Gerlich: Assembly and function of the cell division machinery. Anton Goloborodko: Theoretical models of chromosome structure. Sofia Grade: Mechanisms of plasticity after brain injury. Joanna Jachowicz: Dark genome in early mammalian development. Jürgen Knoblich: Brain development and disease. Developer of the cerebral organoid. Bon-Kyoung Koo: Homeostatic regulation of adult stem cells. Pioneer in adult stem cell organoids. Sasha Mendjan: Molecular control of human organogenesis. Developer of the human cardiac organoid. Josef Penninger: Modeling human disease. Nicolas Rivron: Synthetic development. Developer of the blastoid, a complete embryo model. Shambaditya Saha: Macromolecular phase separation in germ cell fate. Noelia Urbán: Systemic regulation of adult neurogenesis.
Associated projects: The Vienna Drosophila RNAi Center (VDRC) is located at IMBA, and is available to researchers worldwide. It collects an RNAi library of over 22,000 Drosophila strains.
Major scientific discoveries
2022. Disentanglement of the roles of condensin and histone deacetylation in chromosome assembly and chromatin compaction
2022. Identification of CLIP cells (human interneuron progenitors) as the origin of Tuberous Sclerosis using patient-derived cerebral organoids
2021. Human blastoids model blastocyst development and implantation
2021. Cardioids reveal self-organizing principles of human cardiogenesis
2020. Identification of a brain-size determinant using cerebral organoids
2020. Discovery on the conformation of sister chromatids in the replicated human genome
2019. Generation of blood vessel organoids from human pluripotent stem cells.
2017. Development of SLAM-Seq for the high-resolution assessment of RNA expression dynamics
2017. Development of a reversible haploid mouse pluripotent stem cell biobank resource for functional genomics.
2013. Generation of cerebral organoids from human pluripotent stem cells to model human brain development
2008. Discovery of an endogenous small interfering RNA pathway in Drosophila.
2005. Discovery of the role of angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) in SARS coronavirus–induced lung injury.
History
The institute was founded in 1999 as a joint initiative of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and Boehringer Ingelheim and with contributions from the Austrian Government and the city of Vienna. The construction of the building was initiated in 2003 and completed in 2006. It is linked to the building of the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology by a bridge so as to enhance collaborations. Both institutes share a common canteen and their scientific core facilities. In 2002, the geneticist Josef Penninger started as the Scientific Director of the IMBA and recruited Barry Dickson as the first group leader (now at Janelia Research Campus, USA). In 2007 the Vienna Drosophila RNAi Center (VDRC) opened, in collaboration with the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology. In 2018, Josef Penninger was appointed as director of the Life Science Institute of the University of British Columbia and Jürgen Knoblich took the position as interim director of the IMBA. In 2020, the institute expanded in an additional building of the Vienna Biocenter (termed VBC6).