Modern medicine focuses intensively on allergies and major diseases such as arthritis, adverse reactions of the immune system, and infections such as HIV, influenza or SARS. MedUni Vienna performs dedicated research in these fields.
Traditionally, Viennese medicine has given high priority to the fields of Allergology/Immunology/Infectiology. Highly acclaimed doctors such as Clemens Freiherr von Pirquet and Karl Landsteiner set the path for the specialised research we have today in these fields.As a joint project made up of immunologists and allergologists, three specialised fields of research were established; additionally, in cooperation with the pharmaceutical industry, the third-party financed K-plus competence centre "Biomolecular Therapeutics" could be realised. The goal of the competence centre is to discover new immunologic therapeutic drug targets for the treatment of immunologic and inflammatory diseases. At the Clinic for Internal Medicine I an additional competence centre for complex infectious diseases was established.Furthermore, the establishment of several Christian Doppler Laboratories for the fields of Allergology/Immunology at MedUni Vienna underline the high level of expertise in this respect.» Christian Doppler Gesellschaft
The renowned Austrian prize for the promotion of new talent, START, has already been awarded to immunologists of MedUni Vienna on four occasions. Working groups in this field also participate in a research programme initiative of the Federal Ministry of Science and Research (BMWF): GEN-AU.
Many of the groups active in this area of research operate in different organisational units, consequently, they are also based in different locations. Future collaboration is to be facilitated through both integration of the individual groups into one organisational unit and the collective use of the same premises.Fast-track professorships have also been awarded by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Culture for "Allergology" and "Molecular Immunology". The research programme of Allergology/Immunology/Infectiology is categorised as follows:
