VIENNA BIOCENTER CORE FACILITES GMBH

Their core work

Vienna Biocenter Core Facilities GmbH is the shared research infrastructure arm of the Vienna Biocenter (VBC), one of Europe's most concentrated life science campuses. They operate platform services — genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, imaging, and related omics technologies — available to resident and visiting research groups on the campus. In H2020, they participated not as scientific coordinators but as host and training organizations within MSCA mobility and doctoral schemes, providing researchers access to their technical platforms. Their commercial structure as a GmbH reflects a service-oriented, fee-for-use model rather than a grant-seeking research entity.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their earliest H2020 engagement (MAGNAMED, 2017), the focus was squarely on physical-chemical research — nanomagnetism, vortex-state magnetic nanostructures, and their application to cancer diagnostics. By their second project (ImPRESS, 2018), the emphasis shifted entirely toward biological data sciences: biostatistics, bioinformatics, omics, and interdisciplinary PhD training. This is not so much a strategic pivot as a reflection of the breadth of the VBC campus itself — the core facilities serve whatever science is happening on-site, and the campus moved deeper into data-driven biology over this period.

Their trajectory follows the broader VBC campus shift toward data-intensive life sciences, making them an increasingly relevant host for researchers needing omics platforms and bioinformatics infrastructure.

How they like to work

They have never held a coordinator role across their H2020 projects — always participating as a partner or third party, which is typical for infrastructure providers whose value lies in what they host rather than what they lead. Within MSCA consortia they tend to appear as one of many host organizations in large, internationally distributed networks. Their 27 unique partners across 11 countries from just two projects signals broad but shallow connections — many partners reached through consortium structures, not through deep bilateral relationships.

Despite only two H2020 projects, they reached 27 unique consortium partners across 11 countries — a consequence of MSCA schemes, which typically involve large, multi-site networks. Their geographic spread is European-wide, though their physical anchor is firmly in Vienna.

What sets them apart

Their differentiator is location and campus affiliation: the Vienna Biocenter is home to the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA), the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), and several Max Perutz Labs groups, making VBC Core Facilities a gateway to one of Europe's densest concentrations of molecular biology expertise. For an MSCA fellow or consortium needing access to high-end omics, proteomics, or imaging infrastructure in a scientifically rich environment, this organization offers something no standalone lab can replicate. As an SME with a service mandate, they are also more accessible and commercially straightforward to engage than a university research group.

Highlights from their portfolio

• MAGNAMED
  Their only funded H2020 project (EUR 27,000 via MSCA-RISE), covering an unusual intersection of nanomagnetism and cancer diagnostics — showing that VBC Core Facilities serves even highly specialized physics-meets-biology research.
• ImPRESS
  An MSCA-COFUND doctoral programme with an explicitly intersectoral and interdisciplinary structure, reflecting the core facilities' role as a training hub within the VBC ecosystem.