(Vienna, 11-06-2019) Günther Körmöczi of the Department of Blood Group Serology and Transfusion Medicine of MedUni Wien has received the Erwin Domanig Prize 2019 of the Austrian Society for Blood Group Serology, Transfusion Medicine, Regenerative Medicine and Immunogenics (ÖGBT) as project leader of the study "Somatic mosaicisms of chromosome 1 at two different stages of ontogenetic development detected by Rh blood group discrepancies" (Haematologica 2019;104:632-638).
As early as in 2007, his team was able to clarify the cause of the mysterious spontaneous Rh phenotype change, which is almost always based on 1p-Mosaizismus in a part of the myeloid stem cells and associated with haemato-oncological diseases (Körmöczi GF et al, Blood 2007;110:2148-2157). Among other, the distinguished work expands the state of knowledge about the aspect of the ontogenetic hierarchy of the Rh mosaicism: Accordingly, the mosaicism can develop already at a very early individual development phase, which manifests in the involvement of stem cells of different germ layers. The significance of such genetic mechanisms reaches far beyond immunohaematological issues and also comprises oncogenesis and biological ageing, as is also emphasized in a respectively issued editorial (Flegel WA, Haematologica 2019;104:425-427).
Regarding the person
Ao. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Günther Körmöczi, MME is the Deputy Head of the University Department of Blood Group Serology and Transfusion Medicine as well as Head of the Red Cell Laboratory and Granulocyte Immunology at AKH Wien. His research focuses on immunohaematology, haemogenetics, alloimmunisation and granulocyte inflammatory mechanisms. In addition functions in the public health system (Member of Blood Commission, Austrian standards for immunohaematology, external quality assessment schemes) and a variety of tasks in university teaching (e.g. IKPP/OSCE and faculty-specific KPJ coordinator, mentoring, numerous university courses).