2025 marks a special milestone for the Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology (GMI). Since its founding in 2000, the GMI has established itself globally as a premier research institute and will celebrate its 25th anniversary in May. We warmly invite you to the anniversary celebrations and would be delighted for you to join us in marking this milestone.

 

Jubilee Lecture

Date: May 5, 2025, 5:30 PM (CET)

Venue: Festsaal of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Doktor-Ignaz-Seipel-Platz 2, 1010 Vienna

Join us for a special evening with Prof. Jennifer Doudna, Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry 2020, who will deliver a keynote lecture (details see below).

Program:

  • Premiere of Erbsenrondo - A Musical Portrait of the GMI (string quartet composed by Cheryl Frances-Hoad)
  • Keynote: Prof. Jennifer Doudna (Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Innovative Genomics Institute University of California Berkeley & UCSF/Gladstone Institutes)

Genome Editing the Future: Transforming Human and Planet Health with CRISPR Fundamental research to understand how bacteria fight viral infections uncovered the function of CRISPR-Cas programmable proteins that detect and cut specific DNA or RNA sequences. CRISPR technology is now an indispensable tool in human, animal and agricultural research. Furthermore, the FDA’s approval of a CRISPR therapy for sickle cell disease marked the beginning of a new era in healthcare. Doudna will discuss the scientific and societal advances that will expand both the applications and impact of genome editing across the globe.

Register here

Scientific symposium and Party: “A Plant-astic Quarter Century“ 

Date: May 23, 2025; Symposium (all day), Party in the evening

Venue: Vienna BioCenter, Campus-Vienna-Biocenter 1 and Dr. Bohr-Gasse 3, 1030 Vienna

This day-long scientific symposium will feature talks from GMI alumni and former group leaders, highlighting the wide-reaching impact of plant research at the GMI. The detailed program will be updated soon, please find the list of speakers below:

Keynote: Julia Bailey Serres

Speakers:

  • Javier Agustí

  • Petra Bulankova

  • Wolfgang Busch

  • Marion Clavel

  • Thomas Greb

  • Claudia Jonak

  • Tomokazu Kawashima

  • Polina Novikova

  • Aleš Pečinka

  • Karel Říha

  • Elwira Smakowska-Luzan

  • Kelly Swarts

Register here

We look forward to marking this anniversary with you, as we celebrate the vital role of plant research in shaping the future. Please reach out to gmi25(at)gmi.oeaw.ac.at if you have any queries or require additional information.