As part of the Vienna BioCenter Climate initiative Climate@MaxPerutzLabs seeks to share knowledge, create awareness, motivate and inspire action among researchers and students to become more energy efficient, reduce waste and cut transport emissions in their day-to-day work.
It started as a small note of self-reflection on a poster at a conference, triggered a lively discussion about what "I as an individual" can do in terms of climate sustainability and led to a guest commentary invited by EMBO. In this article Climate@MaxPerutzLabs discusses what is known about the negative impact of research on climate and how we can become part of a solution.
The Climate@MaxPerutzLabs initiative has received the Sustainability Award 2022 by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research and the Federal Ministry of Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology for their work.
The prize is awarded every two years and recognizes innovative and sustainable projects at Austrian Universities and Higher Education institutions.
More information about the award (in German)
In order to share knowledge as well as learn from other universities, research institutes and companies, Climate@MaxPerutzLabs has kick-started the Vienna BioCenter Climate Lecture Series. Lecture topics covered by international speakers range from exchanging best practices on energy reduction, waste avoidance and other aspects of sustainability in the lab, covering all aspects of climate change.
The Climate@MaxPerutzLabs team has initiated various projects, ranging from analyzing plastic waste to reducing freezer energy consumption. Projects are generally part of a broader collaboration with the Vienna BioCenter Climate group and climate initiatives at other Austrian universities.
Teaching students of life sciences at all levels how to make lab work more sustainable, Climate@MaxPerutzLabs designs and leads practical lab courses. The course curriculum includes plastic analysis of the lab courses to show participants first-hand how to avoid, reuse, and recycle lab plastics. In cooperation with the Vienna BioCenter Scientific Training programme, Climate@MaxPerutzLabs also hosts the Climate Café for students, providing room for discussion on how labs can become more sustainable.
Martin Brehm
PhD Student 
+43-1-4277-74361
Room: 1.624
Pallavi Deolal
PostDoc +43-1-4277-61668
Room: 3.505
Luca Ferrari
PostDoc +43-1-4277-52828
Room: 5.502
Raphaël Marchand
PostDoc +43-1-4277-72523
Room: 1.614
Lilian Nehlin
PostDoc +43-1-4277-52810
Room: 5.108/5.109
Katharina Schadl
Administration +43-1-4277-56200
Room: 5.115
Nikola Winter
PostDoc +43-1-4277-52810
Room: 5.108/5.109
Dissecting the turgor sensing mechanisms in the blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae
11:00 - 12:00
GMI Orange Seminar RoomPikobodies: What does it take to bioengineer NLR immune receptor-nanobody fusions
14:00 - 15:00 GMI Orange Seminar roomscRNA and phylogenetics
13:15 - 14:15 UBB - Lecture Hall 1Gene regulatory mechanisms governing human development, evolution and variation
13:00 - 14:00 IMBA/GMI Lecture HallRegulation of Cerebral Cortex Morphogenesis by Migrating Cells
11:00 - 12:00 IMBA/GMI Lecture HallPhage therapy for treating bacterial infections: a double-edged sword
13:30 - 14:30 UBB - Lecture Hall 3Suckers and segments of the octopus arm
11:00 - 12:00 IMBA/GMI Lecture HallUsing the house mouse radiation to study the rapid evolution of genes and genetic processes
13:15 - 14:15 UBB - Lecture Hall 1CRISPR jumps ahead: mechanistic insights into CRISPR-associated transposons
11:30 - 12:30 Max Perutz Labs SR 1 (6th floor)SLiMs and SHelMs: Decoding how short linear and helical motifs direct PPP specificity to direct signaling
14:00 - 15:00 MFPL main building, 6th floor SR1/2Title to be announced
11:30 - 12:30 Max Perutz Labs SR 1 (6th floor)Enigmatic evolutionary origin and multipotency of the neural crest cells - major drivers of vertebrate evolution
13:15 - 14:15 UBB - Lecture Hall 1Visualising mitotic chromosomes and nuclear dynamics by correlative light and electron microscopy
11:30 - 12:30 Max Perutz Labs SR 1 (6th floor)Engineered nanocarriers for imaging of small proteins by CryoEM
11:00 - 12:00 GMI Orange Seminar RoomBacterial cell envelope homeostasis at the (post)transcriptional level
13:15 - 14:15 UBB - Lecture Hall 1Title to be announced
14:00 - 15:00 VBC5 Lecture Hall A+B/ZoomHydrologic extremes alter mechanisms and pathways of carbon export from mountainous floodplain soils
12:00 - 13:00 UBB - Lecture Hall 1Dissecting post-transcriptional gene expression regulation in humans and viruses
11:00 - 12:00 IMBA/GMI Lecture HallPolyploidy and rediploidisation in stressful times
13:15 - 14:15 UBB - Lecture Hall 1Prdm9 control of meiotic synapsis of homologs in intersubspecific hybrids
11:30 - 12:30 Max Perutz Labs SR 1 (6th floor)Title to be announced
14:00 - 15:00 VBC5 Lecture Hall A+B/ZoomRNA virus from museum specimens
13:15 - 14:15 UBB - Lecture Hall 1Programmed DNA double-strand breaks during meiosis: Mechanism and evolution
11:30 - 12:30 Max Perutz Labs SR 1 (6th floor)Title to be announced
11:00 - 12:00