Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH
We are Austria's largest Research and Technology Organization (RTO) and belong to the first league worldwide in many of our areas of research. This makes us a powerful development partner for the industry and one of the top employers in the international scientific scene. Key infrastructure issues: The AIT Austrian Institute of Technology is Austria's largest research and technology organisation. Among the European research institutes, AIT is a specialist in the key infrastructure issues of the future. Ingenious Partner: As an Ingenious Partner to industry and public institutions, AIT is already researching and developing the technologies, methods and tools of tomorrow paving the way for the innovations of the day after tomorrow. Locations: The AIT has about 1.400 employees - mostly based at the main facilities Vienna Giefinggasse, Seibersdorf, Ranshofen and Leoben – working on the development of the tools, technologies and solutions for Austrian industries that are of utmost relevance for the future. All these efforts comply with our motto "Tomorrow Today".
Role within EURAS
The main tasks of AIT in EURAS is to establish blood-brain barrier (BBB) in vitro models with hiPSC cells carrying relevant mutations for Rasopathies and to assess functional as well as molecular differences compared to isogenic controls. These models can comprise of brain endothelial- like cells alone or co-cultured with astrocytes and pericytes, or even more complex with microglia and neurons, depending on the found phenotype. The models will then be used to elucidate therapeutic approaches and to study the permeability of drug delivery systems for small molecules as well as oligonucleotides targeting CNS cells and the BBB.
