New National Node Director for BBMRI.at – Helmuth Haslacher appointed National Node Director of BBMRI.at
As of June 2026, Helmuth Haslacher, Head of the MedUni Wien Biobank at the Medical University of Vienna and a long-standing member of BBMRI.at, has been appointed National Node Director of BBMRI.at. Proposed by the BBMRI.at consortium partners and nominated by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Women, Science and Research (BMFWF), his main task will be to represent the Austrian biobanking research infrastructure at European level in BBMRI-ERIC. In his role he complements the leadership team of BBMRI.at together with coordinating PI Gregor Gorkiewicz and Executive Manager Cornelia Stumptner, both Medical University of Graz, which coordinates BBMRI.at.
Proposed by the consortium, nominated by the BMFWF
The appointment is based on a joint proposal of the BBMRI.at consortium partners – the Medical Universities of Vienna, Graz and Innsbruck and the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna – which was confirmed by the Federal Ministry of Women, Science and Research (BMFWF) in July 2026. Helmuth Haslacher succeeds Georg Göbel (Medical University of Innsbruck) as National Node Director.
Austria’s voice in BBMRI-ERIC
One central task of the National Node Director is the representation of BBMRI.at in the European research infrastructure consortium BBMRI-ERIC. Accordingly, the BMFWF has nominated Helmuth Haslacher as a member of the BBMRI-ERIC Management Committee and as advisor to the Austrian delegation in the BBMRI-ERIC Assembly of Members. He thus brings the expertise of the Austrian biobanking infrastructure – from quality management and pre-analytics to veterinary biobanking and environmental sustainability – into European strategy and decision-making, and he brings European developments back to the national network.
A long-standing BBMRI.at member and quality expert
Helmuth Haslacher has been part of BBMRI.at for many years. As Head of the MedUni Wien Biobank he is BBMRI.at Local Biobank Coordinator of the Medical University of Vienna, and he leads Work Package 3 on Quality Management, which is a key area of the Austrian biobanking research infrastructure. His experience in the governance structures of BBMRI.at and his engagement in BBMRI-ERIC are a very good basis for the new role.
Shared leadership for Austrian biobanking
BBMRI.at is coordinated by the Medical University of Graz. Gregor Gorkiewicz continues as coordinator of BBMRI.at and Deputy National Node Director, and Cornelia Stumptner as Executive Manager and Deputy coordinator. Together with the Work Package Leaders and Local Biobank Coordinators they form the Management Committee of BBMRI.at.