Contact

Institute of Pathology
Medical University of Graz
Auenbruggerplatz 25
8036 Graz

Prof. Dr. Kurt Zatloukal

M.D., Deputy Director
Coordinator of the pan-European Biobanking and Biomedical Resources Research Infrastructure

Kurt Zatloukal is professor of pathology at the Medical University of Graz with specialisation in molecular pathology, focusing on metabolic and neoplastic diseases, mainly of the liver. He is a member of the Bioethics Commission at the Austrian Federal Chancellery and Austrian representative in the OECD task force on biological resource centres and the Roadmap Working Group of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructure. Additionally, he acts as member of the steering committee of the P3G consortium. In context of the Austrian Genome Programme (GEN-AU), Prof. Zatloukal coordinates a Biobank project which is based on a comprehensive collection of diseased and healthy tissues representing a non-selected central European population. Recently, he has also become coordinator of the preparatory phase of a pan-European "Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure - BBMRI", which is funded by the European Framework Programme 7. This infrastructure aims at providing the technical, ethical, legal, and financial foundation to become a key resource in biomedical sciences, drug development and public health.

Phone: +43-(0)316-380-4404
Fax: +43-(0)316-384 329
Mail: mailto:kurt.zatloukal@meduni-graz.at

Team

	Doz. Dr. Peter M. Abuja Senior Scientist Peter M. Abuja is physicochemist and biochemist. At the Institute of Pathology of the Medical University of Graz he presently works on the pathobiochemistry of oxidative stress. Current topics involve cellular production of reactive oxygen species, homeostasis of hydrogenperoxide and lipid peroxidation in the context of metabolic liver disease. Phone: +43-(0)316-385-3653 Fax: +43-(0)316-384 329 Mail: mailto:peter.abuja@meduni-graz.at
	Mag. Christina Andracher Project Management Phone: +43-(0)316-380-7652 Fax: +43-(0)316-384 329 Mail: christina.andracher@meduni-graz.at
	Mag. Karin Bonvecchio Project & Meetings Management Karin Bonvecchio studied English and Geography at the Karl-Franzens-University in Graz. In the course of an ERASMUS Exchange in 1996/97 she spent 6 months at the Roehampton Institute of Higher Education in London. After her studies she completed her vocational training in project management and controlling as well as training courses on business and finance. From 1999 to 2006 she worked as a project manager at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Since February 2006 Karin Bonvecchio has been responsible for the management of national and international projects and the organisation of events at the Institute of Pathology in Graz. Phone: +43-(0)316-380-7656 Fax: +43-(0)316-384 329 Mail: karin.bonvecchio@meduni-graz.at
	Dr. Leopold Fröhlich Senior Scientist, Mouse Genetics since December 2008
	Anja Hausleitner Biomedical Laboratory Technican
	Dr. Karl Kashofer Junior Scientist Karl Kashofer has studied Biology at Vienna University. He did his diploma thesis at the Institute of Molecular Pathology, IMP, Vienna, Austria in the group of Jan Michael Peters working on cell cycle regulation via the Anaphase Promoting Complex in mammalian cells. He then did his PhD thesis in the lab of Dominique Bonnet at Cancer Research UK, London. In his thesis he investigated the differentiative potential of human haematopoietic stem cells and could show that these stem cells can give rise to functional heterokaryons in a murine xenotransplantation model. He joined the Institute of Pathology in March 2006 as a postdoc doing research on the initiation, proliferation and metastasis of human hepatocellular carcinoma and also into the molecular biology of metabolic liver disease. More recently he also joined work analysing the potential of human haematopoietic stem cells in a clinical setting and is participating in collaborations with several other institutions.
	Iris Kufferath Biomedical Laboratory Technican Iris Kufferath graduated from Academy for Biomedical Laboratory Technician in Graz. She has been working at the Institute of Pathology since 2004. She is experienced in cell culture, molecular biology, histology and immunohistochemistry.

	Mag. Martina Loibner PhD Student Martina Loibner studied Microbiology at the Karl-Franzens-University in Graz. During her studies she worked at a private research company on prion detection systems and got a full employment when she finished her diploma thesis on in vitro studies on neurogenerative diseases. After also gaining experience in biotechnological issues such as production of plasma proteins in yeast at the Technical University of Graz she completed her vocational training in project management and passed a training course on business and finance. Since 2004 she has been project manager for several national and international funded research projects at the Institute of Pathology in Graz. Since 2011, she is responsible for the CD laboratory. Phone: +43-(0)316-380-7656 Fax: +43-(0)316-384 329 Mail: martina.loibner@meduni-graz.at
	Vineet Mahajan PhD student
	Andrija Matak PhD student
	Dr. Michaela Theresia Mayrhofer Junior Scientist, Project Management Michaela Theresia Mayrhofer studied Political Science and History at the University of Vienna (Austria). In 2001/2, through the Erasmus Exchange Program, she spent the academic year at the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium). In 2002, she became Tutor in Sociology at the Technical University in Vienna. In the following year, she became Student Assistant of Herbert Gottweis at the Department of Political Science in Vienna. Michaela participated in the Essex Summer School in Social Science Data Analysis and Collection (UK), attending courses in Discourse Analysis and qualitative research methods (summer 2003 and 2004). After completing her Master's thesis The Politics of Technically Engineered Food, she became doctoral researcher in a project on biobanks and health governance funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research. In 2004, Michaela was a Visiting Researcher at the Centre de Recherche Médecine, Sciences, Santé et Société (CERMES) in Paris (France) and lectured in the following year at the University of Vienna. Her research focuses on how meaning is given to biomedical practices and the gouvernance of life sciences. In 2010, she finalised her PhD thesis "Biobanks in Practice" at the University of Vienna and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). Since February 2008, she is involved in the coordination of the Pan-European Biobanking and Biomolecular Research Infrastructure (BBMRI). Phone: +43-(0)316-380-7656 Fax: +43-(0)316-384 329 Mail: mailto:michaela.mayrhofer@meduni-graz.at
	Monika Moser Biomedical Laboratory Technican Monika Moser is a graduate of the Academy for Biomedical Laboratory Technician in Graz. She joined the team in October 2008.
	Dr. Heimo Müller Senior Scientist, Software Engineer Heimo Müller studied Mathematics in Graz and Vienna, concluding with a thesis on data space semantics. He started his scientific career in the fields of computer graphics and multimedia at Joanneum Research and participated as national expert in ISO/IEC JTC1 SC24 and SC29. As Marie Curie fellow, Heimo Müller worked at the Faculty of Arts of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in an interdisciplinary program on word and image studies and was the founding head of the Information-Design programme of the University of Applied Sciences FH Joanneum in Graz. His current research interests are Information Visualization and Visual Analytics. At the Institute of Pathology of the Medical University of Graz he presently develops an interactive data exploration system for the "visualization of" and "navigation in" molecular and clinical data in the field of personalized medicine.
	Daniela Pabst Biomedical Laboratory Technican - maternity leave Daniela Pabst graduated at the Academy for Biomedical Laboratory as technician in Graz. Since 2005 she has been working at the Institute of Pathology. She is experienced in cell culture, molecular biology, histology and immunohistochemistry. She also took part in the biobank project, which focuses on collecting various biological samples and on documenting the associated data.
	Robert Reihs Software Engineer Robert Reihs is studying Biomedical Engineering at the Erzherzog-Johann University, University of Technology in Graz. Since 2006 he has been working for the CRIP Project (Central research infrastructure for molecular pathology) at the Institute of Pathology in Graz in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT, for structuring clear text diagnoses in a relational Database System.
	Nadine Repnik, Bakk. Office Management Phone: +43-(0)316-380-7652 Fax: +43-(0)316-384 329 Mail: nadine.repnik@medunigraz.at
	Stefan Sauer Software Engineer Stefan Sauer is studying Biomedical Engineering at the Erzherzog-Johann University, University of Technology in Graz. In 2006 he joined the team and contributed to the project CRIP Project (Central research infrastructure for molecular pathology). Since 2008, he has been participating in the project GENOPTIKUM - Visual Data Mining for Genetic Data.
	Elisabeth Schöck Biomedical Laboratory Technican Elisabeth Schöck is a graduate of the Academy for Biomedical Laboratory Technician in Graz. After successfully completing her practical courses at the Institute of Pathology in summer 2008 she is now member of the team.
	Claudia Smole Biomedical Laboratory Technican Claudia Smole is a graduate of the Academy for Biomedical Laboratory Technician in Graz. She joined the team in October 2008.
	Mag. Gintare Siaulyte Animal Facility Manager Gintare Siaulyte studied Biology (Bachelor) at the Vilnius University in Lithuania. She did her Master in Public Administration, Environment Protection Policy and Administration at the Mykolas Romeris University in Lithuania. She decided to move to Austria and currently works at the Institute of Pathology in Graz. Gintare Siaulyte is responsible for animal facility management.
	Dr. Christian Viertler M.D., Junior Scientist Christian Viertler studied Medicine at the Medical University of Graz, the University Medical Centre of Groningen/Holland and the George Washington University/USA. As a student he joined the biobank project at the Institute of Pathology in context of the Austrian Genome Program GEN-AU in 2006. He contributed to the development of GATiB (Genome Austria Tissue Bank) into a biological resource centre by collection and preservation of biological samples, TMA validation, as well as standardisation and documentation of clinical data. Since his graduation in 2008 he is responsible for clinical data annotation and quality management in the CRIP project (Central Research Infrastructure for Molecular Pathology) in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering (IBMT/Germany). More recently he works for the Europe-wide SPIDIA project with special emphasis on standardisation of the pre-analytical workflow for biological samples, development and validation of new pre-analytical tools for routine and molecular in vitro diagnostics.