• Group Leader Search
    The GMI is hiring a junior group leader. Apply now.

    JOIN US — We are constantly looking for people with big ideas, who would enjoy and augment the intellectual freedom we provide. If this appeals to you, get in touch — contact any group leader.

    Open Positions
  • Welcome to the GMI

    JOIN US — We are constantly looking for people with big ideas, who would enjoy and augment the intellectual freedom we provide. If this appeals to you, get in touch — contact any group leader.

    Open Positions
  • Welcome to the GMI

    JOIN US — We are constantly looking for people with big ideas, who would enjoy and augment the intellectual freedom we provide. If this appeals to you, get in touch — contact any group leader.

    Open Positions
  • Welcome to the GMI

    JOIN US — We are constantly looking for people with big ideas, who would enjoy and augment the intellectual freedom we provide. If this appeals to you, get in touch — contact any group leader.

    Open Positions

JOIN US — We are constantly looking for people with big ideas, who would enjoy and augment the intellectual freedom we provide. If this appeals to you, get in touch — contact any group leader.

Open Positions

Our Mission

The GMI is a research institute devoted to plant biology. Plants created our atmosphere and sustain life on earth. Our goal is to make fundamental discoveries that help us understand how plants function — discoveries that may be essential to address global challenges like climate change. Our research ranges from molecules to ecosystems, involving a wide variety of plants — all depending on the question. We study photosynthesis in unicellular algae, and climate adaptation in coniferous trees. We believe in enabling researchers at all levels to pursue big questions in an intellectually stimulating, diverse, and collaborative environment. Key to our success are minimal hierarchy and bureaucracy, outstanding facilities, and core funding.

Microscopy image of an Arabidopsis flower bud. In green, stem cell nuclei. In magenta, a cytoplasmic marker for the epidermal layer. ©Bradamante/Mittelsten Scheid/GMI

About us

The GMI is part of the Vienna BioCenter, a leading life science cluster comprising several research institutes, universities, and start-up companies and located close to the center of Vienna. The institute is owned and funded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW). Research topics include basic mechanisms of epigenetics, cell biology, plant-pathogen interactions, developmental biology, and population genetics. The GMI provides a lively, international working environment with around 130 people, embedded in a campus with over 1700 people from more than 70 countries. The working language is English. We strive for a friendly, inclusive environment, and provide an on-campus child care center.

Latest Research

Unbiased look at plants uncovers how surprisingly transcription is regulated in plants

In multicellular organisms, transcriptional regulation allows for specialization, such that cells carrying the same genetic code can carry out different functions and roles. In plants, a new unbiased screen allowed researchers in the group of Magnus Nordborg at the Gregor Mendel Institute of…

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Tracing the origin of truncated protein variants

A new study led by Claire McWhite at the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics and with the collaboration of Silvia Ramundo has established a novel system to identify protein isoforms in plant and human proteomics analyses. These truncated versions of full-length proteins, which can have…

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The asymmetric journey of the spore nucleus

To begin sprouting, plant spores divide asymmetrically to give rise to the different plant structures. But how do they set up asymmetry in the first place and distribute their cell contents? In a new manuscript published on July 23rd in Development, Sarah Attrill and Liam Dolan at the Gregor Mendel…

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Summer Slumber: How Seeds go Dormant to Combat Harsh Conditions

To avoid exposure to the harsh Mediterranean summer conditions, some seeds delay germination until after the hot and dry days. Using the plant model Aethionema arabicum, Zsuzsanna Mérai in the group of Liam Dolan at the Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology (GMI) of the Austrian Academy…

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FURTHER NEWS

GMI celebrates Lange Nacht der Forschung

During the evening, over 170,000 people visited research institutions all over Austria to learn more about science.

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In memoriam: Hans Tuppy (1924 - 2024)

Hans Tuppy, biochemist, science politician, and one of the founding fathers of the Vienna BioCenter, passed away months before his 100th birthday.

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Getting to know Yan Ma, new Group Leader at the GMI

“The GMI is one of the best plant research institutes in Europe.” “As a Group Leader, I want to support the people in my group and make sure that they enjoy and have fun doing science”.

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Liam Dolan elected Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences

Liam Dolan has been elected full Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the Academy announced today. Liam Dolan, Senior group leader at the GMI since 2020, is one of 5 newly elected full members of the Division of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.

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FWF Emerging Fields Grant awarded to EvoChromo project

The Austrian Science Fund (FWF) has awarded an Emerging Fields Grant to EvoChromo, an interdisciplinary project coordinated by Frédéric Berger at the GMI. EvoChromo will establish a new research laboratory to uncover how the evolution of genome architecture proteins led to the development of complex…

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EVENTS

Oct
10
11:00

Mechanisms regulating tumor states transition

Speaker: Cedric Blanpain
Type: VBC Regular Seminar
Location: IMBA/GMI Lecture Hall
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Oct
10
13:00

Hostile takeover - viral strategies to hijack a plant

Speaker: Rosa Lozano Duran
Type: GMI Seminar
Location: IMP Lecture Hall
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Oct
10
14:00

Superresolution microscopy for structural cell biology

Speaker: Jonas Ries
Type: Seminar Series on Modern Conce
Location: Lecture Hall B, VBC5 & Zoom
Read more
Oct
11
11:30

How plants sense temperature

Speaker: Philip Wigge
Type: GMI Seminar
Location: GMI Orange Seminar Room
Read more

PUBLICATIONS

Jaegle B, Voichek Y, Haupt M, et al. (2024) k-mer-based GWAS in a wheat collection reveals novel and diverse sources of powdery mildew resistance. bioRxiv:2024.10.03.616421.

Galindo LJ, Mathur V, ..., Irwin NAT (2024) Transcriptomics of Diphyllatea (CRuMs) from South Pacific crater lakes confirm new cryptic clades. J Eukaryot Microbiol [epub].

Yan J, Zhang X, Wang H, et al. (2024) Macrophage NRF1 promotes mitochondrial protein turnover via the ubiquitin proteasome system to limit mitochondrial stress and inflammation. Cell Rep 43(10):114780.

Petroll R, Papareddy RK, Krela R, et al. (2024) The expansion and diversification of epigenetic regulatory networks underpins major transitions in the evolution of land plants. bioRxiv:2024.09.22.614159.

Voichek Y, Hristova G, Mollá-Morales A, et al. (2024) Widespread position-dependent transcriptional regulatory sequences in plants. Nat Genet [epub] preprint bioRxiv:2023.09.15.557872.

Ellis TJ, Nizhynska V, Pisupati R, et al. (2024) Bisulphite sequencing in the presence of cytosine-conversion errors. bioRxiv:2024.09.16.613193.

Ellis TJ and Ågren J (2024) Adaptation to soil type contributes little to local adaptation in an Italian and a Swedish population of Arabidopsis thaliana growing on contrasting soils. Biol Lett 20(9):20240236 preprint bioRxiv:2024.04.24.590956.

Bezvoda R, Landeo-Ríos YM, Kubátová Z, et al. (2024) A genome-wide association screen for genes affecting leaf trichome development and epidermal metal accumulation in Arabidopsis. bioRxiv:2024.09.10.612273.

De Medina Hernandez VS, Nava Garcia MM, ... Yasin D (2024) Cross-species interactome analysis uncovers a conserved selective autophagy mechanism for protein quality control in plants. bioRxiv:2024.09.08.611708.

Hajdu A, Nyári D, Terecskei K, et al. (2024) LIP1 Regulates the Plant Circadian Oscillator by Modulating the Function of the Clock Component GIGANTEA. Cells 13(17):1503.

Birklbauer MJ, Müller F, Geetha SS, et al. (2024) Proteome-wide non-cleavable crosslink identification with MS Annika 3.0 reveals the structure of the C. elegans Box C/D complex. bioRxiv:2024.09.03.610962.

Dahan-Meir T, Ellis TJ, Mafessoni F, et al. (2024) 36-year study reveals stability of a wild wheat population across microhabitats. Mol Ecol [epub] preprint bioRxiv:2022.01.10.475641.

De la Concepcion JC, Duverge H, ... Dagdas Y (2024) Electrostatic changes enabled the diversification of an exocyst subunit via protein complex escape. bioRxiv:2024.08.26.609756.

Spencer V, Wallner ES, Jandrasits K, et al. (2024) The three-dimensional anatomy and dorsoventral asymmetry of the mature Marchantia polymorpha meristem develops from a symmetrical gemma meristem. bioRxiv:2024.08.23.609409.

Wallner ES and Dolan L (2024) Reproducibly oriented cell divisions pattern the prothallus to set up dorsoventrality and de novo meristem formation in Marchantia polymorpha. Current Biology 34(19):4357-67 preprint bioRxiv:2024.07.08.602509.

Thoenen L, Kreuzer M, Pestalozzi C, et al. (2024) The lactonase BxdA mediates metabolic specialisation of maize root bacteria to benzoxazinoids. Nat Commun 15(1):6535.

Attrill ST and Dolan L (2024) Microtubules and actin filaments direct nuclear movement during the polarisation of Marchantia spore cells. Development 151(20):dev202823 preprint bioRxiv:2024.02.23.581750.

Clauw P, Ellis TJ, Liu HJ, et al. (2024) Beyond the standard GWAS - a guide for plant biologists. Plant Cell Physiol [epub].

The GMI is part of the Vienna BioCenter, one of the leading international life science research centers worldwide that has established itself as the premier location for life sciences in Central Europe.

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