Medizinische Universität Graz
Medical University of Graz (MUG) is associated with the University Clinics of Graz with 87,000+ patients/year. Its over 2,500 academic and general staff members and around 4,350 students conduct research, teach and learn with a spirit of innovation for patients' health and well-being. MUG coordinates BBMRI.at, the Austrian National node of the European Biobanking Research Infrastructure (BBMRI-ERIC) and hosts one of the largest clinical biobanks in Europe with various sample types from over 1.2 million patients. Moreover, MUG has been leading the development of ISO and CEN standards for pre-analytical requirements for biological samples used in the human medical field and is collaborating with accreditation and notified bodies on the European in-vitro diagnostics regulation (IVDR).
MIUG experts participating in the MICROBE project:
- Cornelia Stumptner is manager of BBMRI.at since 2013. She is member of the Austrian Standards Institute and delegate in several CEN and ISO Technical Committees. She has been contributing to the development of new ISO and CEN standards for pre-analytical processing of samples for molecular testing (such as one for human specimens for microbiome DNA analysis) which were generated in the context of the EU project SPIDIA4P.
- Kurt Zatloukal is Director of the Diagnostic and Research Center for Molecular BioMedicine at MUG and Director of BBMRI.at. He was coordinator of the preparatory phase of BBMRI-ERIC. As member of the Austrian Standards Institute, he is delegate in various CEN and ISO Technical Committees, and contributing to the development of new European standards and norms for pre-analytical processing of samples for molecular testing.
- Katrin Panzitt is a molecular biologist and works at the Institute of Gastroenterology and at the Institute of Pathology in the biosafety level 3 plus (BSL3+) laboratory. This level is the standard for microbes that can cause serious or deadly diseases and is required for potentially airborne diseases. She is experienced in high throughput NGS from human and mouse intestinal samples. Her research focus is on clinical translational research.