R. WALDL
Building on strong foundations: the University of Vienna, middle, and the Institute of Molecular Pathology, bottom.
After centuries at the hub of central European politics, Vienna is creating a new role at the heart of a fledgling science empire. Three biological institutes are to open there in 2004, creating hundreds of scientific positions. The Institute for Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA), the Gregor Mendel Institute for Plant Molecular Biology (GMI), and the Center of Molecular Medicine (CeMM) are also expected to yield pharmaceutical partnerships and biotech spinoffs that will create even more jobs (see Box 1 Investments and benefits).
The three institutes, all sponsored by the Austrian Academy of Sciences, were conceived when the academy noticed that Austria was "lagging behind" in biology, says Peter Schuster, vice-president of the academy and professor of theoretical chemistry at the University of Vienna. "You have to go beyond the critical mass," he says, to develop strength in biology.
Reaching that point is neither cheap nor easy, so the academy decided to change the way it creates institutes. Some changes, such as higher salaries and more autonomy for directors and senior scientists, could make recruiting top talent easy. The effects of others, such as complex interactions among institutes, local government and industry, are not so clear.
For example, the IMBA and the GMI will be housed in a building financed by the city of Vienna but connected to the Institute for Molecular Pathology (IMP), which, in turn, is financed by the drug company Boehringer Ingelheim. The IMBA scientists will share equipment, a library, and a cafeteria with those of the IMP. Both the IMBA and the IMP are separate from the university, but scientific discussions are encouraged with the university staff who have lab space in the adjoining Vienna Biocenter.
For Josef Penninger, an Austrian researcher recruited from the Amgen Institute in Toronto to head the IMBA, the benefits of this complex arrangement outweigh any uncertainties. "I will be able to pay very good, industrial-type money for really good people," Penninger says.
Josef Penninger says he is excited about building an institute from scratch.
Penninger will have enormous freedom to administer the research budget of some 7 million euros (US$6.1 million). He anticipates that the IMBA will house about 100 staff — three senior research groups, seven junior groups and technicians — increasing to 150 within a few years. Once they get their general research programmes approved by a scientific advisory board, they will have ample funding and facilities to pursue their specific interests. Unlike university-based colleagues, Penninger says, they will not be burdened by teaching or grant-writing.
Another attraction will be the mouse facility: the IMBA should have room for 10,000–20,000 transgenic rodents. The largest such facility in Austria, this will serve much of central and eastern Europe.
Sharing facilities with the GMI and IMP will be a big plus, says Penninger, because it will create research collaborations. Collaborating with the CeMM could also help translate findings from animals to people.
Dieter Schweizer, head of cell biology and genetics at the University of Vienna and director of the GMI, agrees. He says that having mouse and plant geneticists working in the same building will be a boon to functional genomics. Access to the signal-transduction and bioinformatics expertise at the IMP will be another plus.
Dieter Schweizer: combining skills will boost genomics.
The GMI will be about a third of the size of the IMBA, with three senior groups of 10 researchers each, and four junior groups of 5–8 each. Although Penninger has not yet named his senior scientists, Schweizer already has three on board. Marjori and Antonius Matzke, who work at an academy institute of molecular biology in Salzburg, will share a post researching epigenetics. Heribert Hirt, currently at the Institute of Microbiology and Genetics at Vienna University, will head a group on plant cell-cycle regulation and signal transduction in the context of host–plant pathogen interactions. Schweizer is still seeking one more senior scientist.
IMP director Kim Nasmyth sees Vienna developing into a strong centre of basic biology research, thanks to the proximity of the three institutes and the university researchers in the Vienna Biocenter. Nasmyth says that the IMP couldn't be the "sole engine" for the area's growth because its own size is limited by Boehringer. The company does not intend the institute to expand much beyond its current size of 200 scientists.
But the diversity of the neighbouring scientists, rather than their sheer number, is what's important. Many people underestimate the social nature of science, says Nasmyth. He sees the proposed new cafeteria for the university and the three institutes as "the most important thing we will share" — a place where informal meetings may spur interdisciplinary research collaborations.
IMP
Kim Nasmyth believes Vienna will become a major centre for biology research.
The presence of Boehringer is another advantage, according to Nasmyth, who believes that Austria could use a more entrepreneurial culture and that academic scientists will benefit from exposure to the business world. "If you're here," he reasons, "you're likely to learn how this whole thing works."
Such relations need not result in a stranglehold on intellectual property. If someone has difficulty in persuading Boehringer that they have a potentially good target or candidate drug, "there's nothing stopping us from going to a third party," Nasmyth says.
That's what happened with Intercell, one of the country's most successful biotech companies. In 1999, former IMP director Max Birnstiel and colleagues from the university of Vienna found a way to use immunology and genetics to develop vaccines. The company, located in an incubator on the Vienna Biocenter's campus, now has three vaccines in clinical trials.
Alexander von Gabain, the company's chief executive, says that Intercell has paved the way for other scientists to secure venture capital funding (once the stock-market picture brightens, that is). He expects that some of the scientists who move into the new facility in 2004 will eventually take that route.
Web links
Vienna Biocenter
http://www.at.embnet.org/vbc/
Institute for Molecular Biotechnology http://www.oeaw.ac.at/english/about/unternehmen/imba.html
Institute of Molecular Pathology http://www.imp.univie.ac.at
Center of Molecular Medicine http://www.oeaw.ac.at/english/about/unternehmen/cemm.html
