(Vienna, 06 July 2020) Sweets, high spirits and raffle proceeds for a good cause: this was how this year's Bonbon Ball on 21 February 2020 styled itself. It raised a total of €3,000 towards the building of MedUni Vienna's Center for Precision Medicine. The sweetest ball in the city highlights the importance of enjoying sweets responsibly.
Sensible sweet-eating
Sweets have a bad reputation due to their high sugar content. However, more and more low-sugar, high-protein alternatives are coming onto the market, so that people can continue to enjoy the odd sweet. By supporting the Center for Precision Medicine, the Bonbon Ball aimed to highlight the importance of health-awareness and common sense: "Our collaboration with MedUni Vienna came into being, because we want to encourage people to enjoy sweets responsibly. Eating sweets helps us to relax, makes us happy and is harmless in moderation. I am delighted that our donation is going to support a project that will advance medicine and research in Austria," explains ball organiser Heinz Alphonsus.
Raffle proceeds go towards MedUni Vienna's Center for Precision Medicine
Precision medicine is bringing about a paradigm shift in medicine. Each person has a highly individual genetic make-up, which can predispose them to a risk of developing certain diseases. The best form of treatment and prevention is therefore personalised medicine – precision medicine. This new approach will put many previous medical achievements into the shade. MedUni Vienna is playing a pioneering role in this and will start building the Center for Precision Medicine on the MedUni Vienna General Hospital Campus in 2022. The new Center will focus on biomedical research, clinical studies, genome technology, bioinformatics and IT. Clinicians and basic researchers will be working closely together in the vicinity of the University Hospital Vienna to develop the very latest knowledge, so that patients can be treated using state-of-the-art medicine (www.zpm.at).
The Center for Precision Medicine, the construction of which will be financed by donations and third-party funding, is one of three medical research centres to be built in Vienna over the next few years. With these innovative projects, MedUni Vienna is signalling its commitment to the development of 21st century medicine.