AITHYRA
October 6, 2025|KW
Where Artificial Intelligence Meets Biomedicine
In September 2025, the AITHYRA Institute for Biomedical AI celebrated its first anniversary – a major milestone for Vienna’s life sciences hub. This groundbreaking institute brings together leading researchers from the fields of artificial intelligence and biomedicine to develop new methods and applications that revolutionize our understanding of biological processes and accelerate the development of new therapies.
Founded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) and supported by a €150 million grant from the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation – the largest private research funding ever awarded in Austria – AITHYRA aims to merge life sciences and AI from the very beginning rather than treating them as separate domains.
At AITHYRA, biologists and computer scientists work hand in hand to design experimental systems that can be analyzed using AI-based methods. This approach allows researchers to uncover patterns and relationships invisible to the human eye, potentially transforming our fundamental understanding of biology.
Since February 2025, the institute has been operating out of its first laboratory and office spaces in the Marxbox at the Vienna BioCenter. The Vienna Business Agency supported AITHYRA in choosing its location and establishing its presence, and – commissioned by the City of Vienna – is constructing a new laboratory and office complex for life sciences companies to be completed by 2029, where AITHYRA will move in as an anchor tenant. Embedded within one of Europe’s largest life sciences clusters, the institute already benefits from close collaboration between research, education, and industry on the Vienna BioCenter campus.
The AITHYRA team is expanding rapidly: more than 260 international applications were submitted for its first group leader selection process. By the end of 2025, the first research groups are expected to begin their work. In the long term, 13 to 15 groups with around 300 researchers and staff are planned – laying the foundation for a new era of AI-driven biomedical research in Vienna.
Research at AITHYRA focuses on four key disease areas: cancer, neurological disorders, immunological diseases, and infectious diseases. In the coming years, the institute aims to study biological systems at the molecular, cellular, and organ levels. A special emphasis is placed on “engineerable biology” – the idea of using AI to model and deliberately modify biological processes in order to develop new therapeutic approaches.
With its scientific leadership team – Michael Bronstein, a world-leading AI researcher at the University of Oxford, and Georg Winter, one of the foremost pioneers in targeted protein degradation – AITHYRA combines international excellence with Vienna’s research strengths. Both bring extensive experience in collaborating with academic institutions and industry partners, with the goal of establishing the institute as a globally visible center for biomedical innovation.
Vienna provides the ideal environment for this vision: an outstanding research landscape with institutions such as CeMM, IMBA, IMP, ISTA, the University of Vienna, the Medical University of Vienna, and the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien); a dense network of collaborations; and a social climate that actively supports research and innovation.
Through events like the international AI for Life Science Symposium, held in Vienna in autumn 2025 and featuring distinguished guests such as Nobel laureate Frances Arnold, AITHYRA is positioning itself as an international hub for science, research, and interdisciplinary exchange – and as a symbol of Vienna’s growing influence in the global life sciences community.
AITHYRA Institute