The Austrian BioImaging/CMI consortium was founded in 2016 by nine scientific institutions that bring together leading Austrian experts in the fields of imaging, microscopy, and assistance techniques such as image and data analysis. The consortium consists of: MedUni Vienna, Vienna BioCenter Core Facilities, TU Vienna, Vetmeduni Vienna, University of Vienna, IST Austria, FH Obersösterreich, VRVis Center for Virtual Reality and Visualization and the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft.
From the beginning, the goal of Austrian BioImaging/CMI - a so-called Imaging Node - was to be a pioneer in the use of correlated multimodal imaging techniques in the life sciences. Meanwhile, more than 35 imaging modalities are already available to scientists through CMI, covering the complete spectrum of (pre)clinical and biological studies and allowing work on samples both in vivo and ex vivo, including analysis at the molecular level. In addition, Austrian BioImaging/CMI is developing completely new multimodal workflows in the field of correlated imaging, advancing the research field with a holistic approach.
Austrian BioImaging/CMI applied to join the European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC)Euro-BioImaging, which was launched in 2019 by Austria and 14 other founding members as a pan-European imaging initiative. In a review process lasting several months, and intensively reviewed by an international scientific advisory board, the Austrian consortium received the highest rating of "Highly Recommended Imaging Node" among 15 competitors. As a result, Austrian BioImaging/CMI is now the official Austrian imaging hub in the Euro-BioImaging research infrastructure. The goal of this European initiative is to establish itself as the leading provider of multimodal imaging in Europe. The services of the Euro-BioImaging Hub include providing life science researchers with cross-border and cross-disciplinary access to imaging tools, expertise, training opportunities and data management services.