(Vienna, 15 April 2026) At more than 200 stations across 15 locations along the Medical Research Mile around the MedUni Campus AKH in Vienna’s 9th district, visitors can immerse themselves in the fascination of pioneering research and developments, learn about and try out state-of-the-art treatment and examination methods, witness live operations, conduct brain research, discover digital dentistry and much more. The Long Night of Research takes place on 24 April 2026 from 5 pm to 11 pm. The event kicks off at 4 pm with bestselling author Thomas Brezina, who will tell children and their parents “What your body would say if it could speak”.
Across 15 venues, MedUni Vienna and its partner institutions are offering insights into the latest developments and innovations in modern medicine at more than 200 stations. The MedUni Vienna Lecture Center at University Hospital Vienna is a hub for a particularly large number of demonstrations, presentations and hands-on stations. At 4 pm, bestselling author Thomas Brezina will open the evening with selected insights from his new family book “Was dein Körper sagen würde, wenn er sprechen könnte”, which was produced in collaboration with MedUni Vienna. Special highlights include three live operations in the fields of cardiac, transplant and neurosurgery. Visitors can watch live as cardiac surgeons operate on an aortic aneurysm (starting at 7 pm), as neurosurgeons treat a cerebral aneurysm using microsurgical clipping (starting at 7.30 pm), and as a kidney transplant is performed with the aid of a surgical robot (starting at 8 pm). This offers the public a glimpse into three highly specialised fields of cutting-edge medicine, straight from the operating theatre. Anyone wishing to try their hand at being a surgeon will have plenty of opportunities to do so at the various hands-on stations and in workshops: on the Da Vinci surgical robot simulator, visitors can control operations themselves and try out surgical techniques such as suturing, knotting, laparoscopy and electrosurgery.
The neurosciences also offer a wide range of topics: the spectrum extends from the examination of fluorescent brain sections and the simulation of brain development using organoids to digital dementia screening. In this way, the Medical Research Mile clearly demonstrates how closely research, technology and clinical practice are intertwined. Two locations are dedicated to the latest developments in cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment (Center for Cancer Research, Borschkegasse 4A, and St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research, Zimmermannplatz). At the “Alles Notfall” site near the main entrance to the AKH (U6 Michelbeuern), the focus is on acute and emergency medicine. Through simulations, visitors can step into different roles themselves and experience just how crucial teamwork and quick decision-making are. The Center of Excellence for High-Field MRI, home to Austria’s most powerful MRI scanner, offers extraordinary insights into the interior of the human body. The Institute of Immunology invites visitors on a journey of discovery through the world of the immune system, whilst at the University Clinic of Dentistry Vienna, no teeth will be extracted this evening – instead, exciting insights into the future of dentistry will be on offer.
Finally, it is also worth taking a look at the Center for Translational Medicine, which is currently under construction. Spanning more than 14,000 square metres, this facility is being developed as a place where research, teaching and clinical practice will converge even more closely. The infrastructure creates space for exchange, innovation and the close collaboration that makes medical progress possible.
Innovation and research also lie behind the Gustav Klimt façade ‘Die Medizin’: the lost colour scheme of the famous faculty painting has been reconstructed with the help of AI (Google Arts & Culture) and scientific expertise from leading Klimt experts at the Austrian Belvedere Collection. To mark the occasion, the exhibition “Gustav Klimt and Medicine. Images of the Flow of Life” opened on 26 March 2026 at the Josephinum, the medical history museum of MedUni Vienna. It can be visited until 28 June.
Medical Research Mile on 24 April 2026, 5 pm–11 pm
MedUni Vienna and its partners are presenting more than 200 stations on research and developments for the future of medicine at the Medical Research Mile during the Long Night of Research at 15 locations in Vienna’s 9th district:
• MedUni Vienna Lecture Theatre Center at University Hospital Vienna (MedUni Campus AKH*)
• All About Emergencies (MedUni Campus AKH*)
• Ionising radiation in medicine (MedUni Campus AKH*)
• Gustav Klimt facade: ‘Medicine’ (MedUni Campus AKH*)
• Hands-on microscopy lab (MedUni Campus AKH*)
• Ignaz Semmelweis – His Life, His Legacy (MedUni Campus AKH*)
• Discovering Sigmund Freud (MedUni Campus AKH*)
• Pharmacy laboratory (Austrian Chamber of Pharmacists, Spitalgasse 31)
• Center for Translational Medicine (MedUni Campus AKH*)
• High-Field MRI Center (MedUni Campus AKH*)
• St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research (CCRI) (Zimmermannplatz 10)
• Center for Cancer Research (Borschkegasse 4A)
• Institute of Immunology (Lazarettgasse 19)
• "Narrenturm" – Pathological-Anatomical Collections (Spitalgasse 2, University Campus Hof 6)
• University Clinic of Dentistry (Sensengasse 2a)
* Entrances to the MedUni Campus AKH:
- Währinger Gürtel 18–20 (U6 Michelbeuern)
- Spitalgasse 23 (Tram 5 and 21, Lazarettgasse)
- Lazarettgasse 14
Further information and the programme for the Medical Research Mile: www.meduniwien.ac.at/lnf