• Welcome to the GMI

    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. These discoveries are 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. For example, we study photosynthesis in unicellular alga, 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 is minimal hierarchy and bureaucracy, outstanding facilities, and core funding.

  • Welcome to the GMI

    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. These discoveries are 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. For example, we study photosynthesis in unicellular alga, 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 is minimal hierarchy and bureaucracy, outstanding facilities, and core funding.

  • Welcome to the GMI

    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. These discoveries are 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. For example, we study photosynthesis in unicellular alga, 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 is minimal hierarchy and bureaucracy, outstanding facilities, and core funding.

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. These discoveries are 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. For example, we study photosynthesis in unicellular alga, 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 is minimal hierarchy and bureaucracy, outstanding facilities, and core funding.

About us

The Gregor Mendel Institute is part of the Vienna BioCenter, a leading life science cluster, comprising several research institutes, universities, and start-up companies, 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.

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, feel free to contact any group leader — and have a look at our currently listed open positions as well as our information for students and postdocs.

Latest Research

GMI scientists inaugurate The Plant Cell’s Mendel celebrations

The journal The Plant Cell joins the celebrations of the 200th birthday anniversary of the “Father of genetics” with a series of…

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How the first roots developed more than 400 million years ago

A plant fossil from a geological formation in Scotland sheds light on the development of the earliest known form of roots. A team led…

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Battle of the Pleiades against plant immunity

Mythological nymphs reincarnate as a group of corn smut proteins to launch a battle on maize immunity. One of these proteins appears…

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Profiling gene expression in plant embryos one nucleus at a time

The first plant embryo gene expression atlas at the single cell level was developed by a team of researchers at GMI – Gregor Mendel…

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FURTHER NEWS

Our PhD Candidates and Postdocs are now portrayed on the GMI website

The Gregor Mendel Institute now portrays its Early Career Researchers (ECRs) on the website.

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New President for Austrian Academy of Sciences

The Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology (GMI) congratulates Heinz Faßmann, recently elected president of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

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ERC Consolidator Grant to Yasin Dagdas

Yasin Dagdas, Group Leader at the Gregor Mendel Institute, is awarded a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). This funding will allow Dagdas to decipher the role of Autophagy as a rescue mechanism for stalled, membrane-bound ribosomes. Get to know Dagdas and his research…

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Weintraub Award to GMI Alumna Kate Parys

Katarzyna (Kate) Parys, who recently obtained her PhD from the Belkhadir Lab, is a recipient of the highly prestigious 2022 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award. We conducted a short interview with Kate to try to find out how the mind of a successful young scientist ticks!

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EVENTS

May
30
14:30

Monday Seminar (Internal)

Speaker: SCHMÖLLERL Johannes (Zuber), FAAS Victoria (Clausen), ANISIMOVA Aleksandra (Karagöz)
Type: Monday Seminar
Location: IMP Lecture Hall
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May
30
18:00

Identifying new disease-related mechanisms for genetic cardiomyopathy

Speaker: Eva van Rooij
Type: Impromptu Seminar
Location: IMP Lecture Hall
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Jun
01
13:00

Gene transcription: from mechanisms to regulation

Speaker: Patrick Cramer
Type: Max Birnstiel Lecture
Location: IMP Lecture Hall
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Jun
02
13:00

The genetic basis for diversification of leaf form: from understanding to reconstructing

Speaker: Miltos Tsiantis
Type: VBC Regular Seminar
Location: IMBA/GMI Lecture Hall
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PUBLICATIONS

Gonzalez Somermeyer L, Fleiss A, Mishin AS, et al. (2022) Heterogeneity of the GFP fitness landscape and data-driven protein design. Elife 11:e75842.

Saado I, Chia KS, ..., Djamei A (2022) Effector-mediated relocalization of a maize lipoxygenase protein triggers susceptibility to Ustilago maydis. Plant Cell [epub].

Michl-Holzinger P, Obermeyer S, Markusch H, et al. (2022) Phosphorylation of the FACT histone chaperone subunit SPT16 affects chromatin at RNA polymerase II transcriptional start sites in Arabidopsis. Nucleic Acids Res [epub].

Picchianti L, Sanchez de Medina Hernandez V, ..., Dagdas Y (2022) Shuffled ATG8 interacting motifs form an ancestral bridge between UFMylation and C53-mediated autophagy. bioRxiv:2022.04.26.489478.

Naumann C, Heisters M, Brandt W, et al. (2022) Bacterial-type ferroxidase tunes iron-dependent phosphate sensing during Arabidopsis root development. Curr Biol [epub] preprint bioRxiv:2021.03.19.436157.

Heilman KA, Dietze MC, Arizpe AA, et al. (2022) Ecological forecasting of tree growth: Regional fusion of tree-ring and forest inventory data to quantify drivers and characterize uncertainty. Glob Chang Biol 28(7):2442-60.

Clasen SJ, Bell ME, Lee D, et al. (2022) Silent recognition of flagellins from human gut commensal bacteria by Toll-like receptor 5. bioRxiv:2022.04.12.488020.

Feng Q, De Rycke R, Dagdas Y, et al. (2022) Autophagy promotes programmed cell death and corpse clearance in specific cell types of the Arabidopsis root cap. Curr Biol [epub] preprint bioRxiv:2022.02.16.480680.

Ali MF, Shin JM, Fatema U, et al. (2022) Cellular dynamics of endosperm development in Arabidopsis thaliana. bioRxiv:2022.04.01.485647.

Berger F (2022) One residue-one function. Science 375(6586):1232-3.

Galanti D, Ramous-Cruz D, Nunn A, et al. (2022) Genetic and environmental drivers of large-scale epigenetic variation in Thlaspi arvense. bioRxiv:2022.03.16.484610.

Berger F (2022) Which field of research would Gregor Mendel choose in the 21st century? Plant Cell [epub].

Berger F, Muegge K, Richards EJ (2022) Seminars in cell and development biology on histone variants remodelers of H2A variants associated with heterochromatin. Semin Cell Dev Biol [epub].

Stegmann M, Zecua-Ramirez P, Ludwig C, et al. (2022) RGI-GOLVEN signaling promotes cell surface immune receptor abundance to regulate plant immunity. EMBO Rep 23(5):e53281 preprint bioRxiv:2021.01.29.428839..

Zhao J, Bui MT, ..., Dagdas Y (2022) Plant autophagosomes mature into amphisomes prior to their delivery to the central vacuole. bioRxiv:2022.02.26.482093.

Mittelsten Scheid O (2022) Mendelian and non-Mendelian genetics in model plants. Plant Cell [epub].

Vallebueno-Estrada M, Hernandez-Robles GG, Gonzalez-Orozco E, et al. (2022) Domestication and lowland adaptation of coastal preceramic maize from Paredones, Peru. bioRxiv:2022.02.23.481166.

Knoch E, Kovács J, Deiber S, et al. (2022)  Transcriptional response of a target plant to benzoxazinoid and diterpene allelochemicals highlights commonalities in detoxification. bioRxiv:2022.02.21.480921.

Clauw P, Kerdaffrec E, Gunis J, et al. (2022) Locally adaptive temperature response of vegetative growth in Arabidopsis thaliana. bioRxiv:2022.02.15.480488.

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.

viennabiocenter.org