An international research team led by scientists from SickKids Hospital in Toronto, the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Dalhousie University, the University of Exeter (UK) and the Medical University of Vienna has uncovered a previously unknown protective strategy of cells. The study, published in the top journal Science, shows how two cell compartments - mitochondria and peroxisomes - work directly together to defend themselves against so-called "oxidative stress factors".

A research team at the Medical University of Vienna led by Dietmar Herndler-Brandstetter has investigated how bone marrow niches orchestrate immune cell development and promote long-term survival and function of mature immune cells. The study reveals that stromal cell subtypes have a different capacity to produce the survival cytokine interleukin 15 (IL-15) and thereby differently regulate the development and survival of immune cells. The results have been published in the Journal "Nature Communications".

Simon Licht-Mayer, researcher at MedUni Vienna's Clinical Institute of Laboratory Medicine, has been awarded a project grant by the Wings for Life Foundation. He is investigating how an injury to peripheral nerves alters energy production in nerve cells and thereby helps damaged nerves in the spinal cord to heal better.

The Medical University of Vienna, under the leadership of Kareem Elsayad from the Center for Anatomy and Cell Biology, has been instrumental in the development and publication of the world's first consensus statement on Brillouin scattering microscopy for biomedical applications. The article, published in Nature Photonics, marks a significant step towards standardization and clinical translation of this innovative technology.

A recent study led by Philipp Starkl from MedUni Vienna shows that mast cells can influence the behaviour of macrophages in a previously unknown way. The research provides new insights into the interactions of these immune cells in inflammatory processes and immune defence, and lays the foundation for the development of new immunomodulatory therapeutic strategies. The findings have been published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

at the Medical University of Vienna. The radiologist has been working at the Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy at MedUni Vienna since 2012, where he is responsible for urogenital imaging. Pascal Baltzer aims to further strengthen clinically relevant MRI research in Vienna - and to share his "joy of science and curiosity about new discoveries with students and colleagues for the benefit of patients".

An international study involving MedUni Vienna and the University Hospital Vienna shows that additional immunotherapy with pembrolizumab significantly prolongs disease-free survival in patients with locally advanced, resectable squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. The results, currently published in the top journal The New England Journal of Medicine, pave the way for approval of the therapy, which could become the new standard treatment for this common cancer.

For the first time in Austria, the interdisciplinary heart team at MedUni Vienna and University Hospital Vienna has succeeded in performing a minimally invasive total mitral valve replacement via the inguinal vein in two patients with severe mitral valve insufficiency. Just a few weeks after European approval, a new catheter-based method was used that opens up new therapeutic perspectives, particularly for high-risk patients.

A research team at the Medical University of Vienna has systematically described the safety and efficacy of targeted immunotherapy in refractory idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) for the first time. The results of the retrospective observational study were published in the journal Rheumatology.

Levosimendan is an established drug in cardiology that strengthens the contractile force of the heart muscle and is used in certain forms of acute heart failure. A study has now investigated whether levosimendan can also help to prevent undetected but measurable cardiac stress after major non-cardiac surgery. The results, currently published in the journal Nature Communications, do not support routine use for this indication.

The Clinical Research Groups (KFG) funding programme launched by the Ludwig Boltzmann Society (LBG) is Austria's first collaborative research initiative with a clear focus on patient-oriented, medically relevant topics in the field of non-commercial clinical research.

An international expert committee led by Christian Dorfer from the Department of Neurosurgery at MedUni Vienna has presented the world's first curriculum for training in epilepsy surgery. The aim is to improve surgical care for people with drug-resistant epilepsy worldwide by establishing uniform standards of competence. The complete curriculum and the results of an accompanying expert survey have been published in the journal Epileptic Disorders.

) at the Medical University of Vienna. The clinical focus of the deputy head of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the Department of Medicine III is on the treatment of congenital metabolic diseases in adulthood. Thomas Scherer's research aims to find new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of metabolic diseases such as obesity, lipodystrophy, and type 2 diabetes, and to investigate changes in metabolism during the aging process.

An interdisciplinary research team from the Medical University of Vienna, in collaboration with the University of Vienna, found that targeted modification of a single protein in certain immune cells reduces intestinal inflammation in a mouse model of colitis. The study, currently published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, focuses on the protein filamin A, whose structure can be modified by so-called RNA editing. The findings open up new perspectives for the development of therapeutic options for chronic inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis.

Women with acute coronary syndrome (heart attack) suffer more frequently from bleeding complications - often due to inappropriate medication dosages or high-risk access routes during catheter interventions. Although this problem has been known for a long time, it has not been adequately considered in everyday clinical practice. Now, for the first time, an international panel of experts led by MedUni Vienna has published specific recommendations for gender-specific treatment of heart attacks. The consensus statement has been published in the renowned journals European Heart Journal and EuroIntervention.

Allergy sufferers need to prepare themselves for the pollen release again this year at the Danube Island Festival next weekend, from 20 to 22 June 2024. The 2025 grass pollen season has been above average so far, reports MedUni Vienna's Pollen Service Vienna. Until recently, there were still high pollen concentrations throughout the city. However, the peaks are now over. In addition to grasses as the main allergen, the tree of heaven, sweet chestnut and fungal spores also play a role.