Institute of Virology Innsbruck Joins the Global Virus Network as Austria’s First Center of Excellence

The Institute of Virology at the Medical University of Innsbruck has been accepted into the Global Virus Network (GVN) as a Center of Excellence. It is the first institution in Austria to join the network in this capacity. The GVN is an international coalition of more than 90 Centers of Excellence and Affiliates in over 40 countries, formed to strengthen research, training and preparedness for viral threats to public health.

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Gisa Gerold, Head of the Institute, will serve as Center Director for Innsbruck.

What the Designation Means

Centers of Excellence are the core members of the GVN. Admission is based on a small set of criteria: the center is led by an established medical virologist, it is scientifically productive with demonstrated depth in several viral areas, and it is willing to support capacity building at partner institutions, particularly in resource-limited settings. Institutions that work in a narrower field can join the network as Affiliates and are mentored by a designated Center of Excellence.

For Innsbruck, the designation places the institute’s five research groups, the associated Wollmann Lab and the clinical diagnostics unit within a permanent international structure. The institute’s work spans emerging virus–host interactions, viral vector vaccines, retroviruses and innate immunity, the immunology of viral infection, viral immunotherapy of cancer, and epidemiology — alongside the serological and virological diagnostics service for Tyrol.

In practical terms, membership opens several channels. Researchers at every career stage can join the GVN’s Action Committees, the network’s working groups on retroviruses, arboviruses, respiratory viruses, poxviruses, haemorrhagic fever viruses, and Long COVID and other infection-associated chronic conditions. These committees meet regularly to review research, assess outbreak developments and coordinate joint responses. Early-career scientists gain access to GVN training formats, including the Short Course in Translational Virology, the webinar series and fellowship programmes. And in acute outbreak situations, the network provides a route for rapid expert exchange and coordinated public communication.

From now on, the institute will name its GVN affiliation in publications and scientific presentations.

About the Global Virus Network

The GVN was founded in 2011 by Robert C. Gallo of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, William Hall of University College Dublin, and the late Reinhard Kurth of the Robert Koch Institute. The idea grew out of an observation made during the early years of the AIDS epidemic: at the moment a new virus emerges, there is no standing international body of virologists able to coordinate a scientific response. The network was built to close that gap.

Its mission is pandemic preparedness for viral diseases that threaten public health, pursued through three cornerstones — advancing scientific research, education and training for the next generation of virologists, and global health strategies and solutions developed together with national and international scientific and governmental bodies.

The network’s international headquarters is located at the University of South Florida in Tampa, which was selected as the permanent host in 2024 and formally opened the headquarters in March 2026. Among the European members are Institut Pasteur in Paris, the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Rega Institute at KU Leuven, the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, the Institute of Virology at the Technical University of Munich, the Institute for Virology in Marburg, the Karolinska Institute, the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, and University College Dublin.

What Comes Next

Members of the institute who wish to join one of the Action Committees or subscribe to the GVN’s scientific communications can contact the institute office. Further information on the network is available at gvn.org.