Vienna, 18 July 2025) – For the second time after 2023, the organisational unit (OU) Core Facilities of the Medical University of Vienna has successfully acquired funding from the highly competitive FFG's infrastructure call. This time funds of EUR 2.5 million will be available to implement the MOONSHOT project ("Multi-Omics for Optimizing Novel biomarker Signatures in High-throughput for Omics-based Translational precision medicine").
The aim of the project is to establish a state-of-the-art platform for the discovery and validation of biomarkers that will set new standards in translational and personalized medicine.
The project is based at MedUni Vienna's OU Core Facilities and will play a central role on the university campus in future - in particular in close spatial connection to the new Center for Translational Medicine and the Eric Kandel Institute - Center for Precision Medicine. This integration of research laboratories, preclinical infrastructure, clinical studies and the biobank creates ideal conditions for interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation.
The funding will be used to acquire state-of-the-art technology for high-throughput cellular analyses, mass spectrometry and volumetric imaging. The resulting infrastructure will enable highly sensitive analyses at the single-cell level as well as spatially resolved insights into tissue samples - a decisive step forward for research into disease-specific signalling pathways and the development of precise diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.
"MOONSHOT will make it possible to identify disease-relevant biomarkers more quickly and in a more targeted manner and to bring them into clinical application," says Johann Wojta, Head of OU Core Facilities at MedUni Vienna, "We are thus making an important contribution to the further development of precision medicine in Austria and beyond."
The project not only strengthens the technological infrastructure, but also positions Vienna as an up-and-coming center for single-cell and multi-omics research at a top European level. MOONSHOT will promote international cooperation and make a sustainable contribution to the competitiveness of MedUni Vienna and Austria as a center of biomedical research.