The Cluster of Excellence "Microbiomes Drive Planetary Health" aims to investigate the importance of microbiomes for the health of our planet. With FWF funding of EUR 21 million, 30 scientists from seven research institutions will work together to decipher basic principles of environmental microbiomes and human microbiomes and to enable their targeted manipulation as an innovative solution for a sustainable future. For AIT, this opens up the opportunity to strengthen long-term collaborations with excellent Austrian research institutions and explore new applications of microbiomes.
The Clusters of Excellence (COE) are part of the funding initiative excellent=austria and are intended to strengthen Austria's position as a top international science location. COE are led by an outstanding researcher and aim to achieve cooperative research performance at top international level. COE also engage in outstanding promotion of young researchers and are active in the field of knowledge and technology transfer through cooperation with social and/or economic partners. The aim is to create synergies between research, research-led education, promotion of young researchers, networking and knowledge transfer. With excellent=austria, Austria sends teams at several research sites on a journey to gain groundbreaking insights in a promising research field.
The goal of the Cluster of Excellence "Microbiomes Drive Planetary Health" is to understand the importance of microbiomes for planetary health. This is made possible by an FWF grant of 21 million euros. "In our Cluster of Excellence, we are creating completely new synergies by dissolving the boundaries between red and green microbiome research in Austria and thus directly linking medicine with environmental research. We want to learn to understand the basic principles of microbiomes in order to then strengthen planetary health by modeling and targeting them," says Michael Wagner, Director of Research of the Cluster of Excellence.
The Cluster of Excellence "Microbiomes drive Planetary Health" will enable AIT to strengthen long-term collaborations with excellent Austrian research institutions and explore new applications of microbiomes. Angela Sessitsch, Head of Competence Unit Bioresources of the AIT Center for Health and Bioresources, commented: "We are thrilled to have been able to establish this Cluster of Excellence. The focus on microbiomes and planetary health is paramount to advancing the global sustainability agenda. The cluster will allow us to further build on our long-standing expertise in microbiome research and expand our network of excellent research institutions."
Microbiomes, the communities of microorganisms that populate all ecosystems and living things, are essential to the health of our planet and its inhabitants. In this Cluster of Excellence, 30 scientists from different disciplines at seven different research institutions are working to decipher common basic principles of environmental microbiomes and human microbiomes. The goal is to discover how microbiomes control the health of our planet. With this knowledge, global change will become more predictable while enabling the targeting of microbiomes as an innovative solution for a sustainable future.
Board of Directors and participating research sites:
- Michael Wagner (Director of Research, Universität Wien)
- Andreas Bergthaler (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, CeMM)
- Christina Kaiser (Universität Wien)
- Bernhard Lendl (Technische Universität Wien)
- Christine Moissl-Eichinger (Medizinische Universität Graz)
- Alexander Moschen (Universität Linz)
- Leonid Sazanov (Institute of Science and Technology Austria)
- Angela Sessitsch (AIT Austrian Institute of Technology)