Max Perutz Labs

What Max Perutz Labs does

Max Perutz Labs is an academic research institute, legally organized as Max Perutz Labs Support GmbH, established in 2005 as a joint venture between the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna and embedded within the Vienna BioCenter campus in Vienna, Austria. The institute employs 470 scientists and staff from over 50 nationalities and operates 38 research groups organized into three research areas: Mechanistic Cell and Developmental Biology; Chromatin, RNA and Chromosome Biology; and Structural and Computational Biology. Its mission is to deliver mechanistic understanding of fundamental biomedical processes and link breakthroughs in basic research to advances in human health.

The institute's primary revenue is competitive grant funding from bodies including the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and the European Research Council (ERC), with 22 ERC grants secured by its scientists. A secondary commercial revenue stream comes from the Monoclonal Antibody Facility (MAF), which has delivered over 130 custom antibody projects for more than 50 customers and produced approximately 200 Western blot-validated monoclonal antibodies since 2009, including the world-wide first CRISPR/Cas9 monoclonal antibody (7A9-3A3), which has been licensed to biotech companies. The institute also runs educational programs — including the Vienna BioCenter PhD Program, the Max Perutz PhD Fellowship (since 2021), the E-STEEM Fellowship, Erasmus exchanges, and postdoctoral training — and provides shared core facilities within the Vienna BioCenter campus.

The institute is governed by Scientific Director Univ.-Prof. Dr. Alwin Köhler. It is a private, non-equity entity, with no traditional funding rounds, M&A, or equity ownership structures; rather, it operates under the joint venture framework of its two founding universities. Service customers and licensing partners are served via a fee-for-service model with tiered (subsidized vs. commercial) pricing for internal versus external academic and non-academic users.

Name

Max Perutz Labs

Legal name

Max Perutz Labs Support GmbH

Website

https://maxperutzlabs.ac.at

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Max Perutz Labs is a Vienna-based academic research institute and joint venture of the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna that conducts mechanistic biomedical research across 38 groups, operates a fee-for-service Monoclonal Antibody Facility, and delivers doctoral and postdoctoral training within the Vienna BioCenter.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Life Sciences Research

NAICS

Medical Laboratories (621511), Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (6113), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (541690)

SIC

Services-Medical Laboratories (8071), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Central Laboratory Services (Core Lab Operations) (HLAGAEAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Clinical Biomarker Testing Services (central labs, trial enrollment/monitoring assays) (HLAAAMAC), Molecular Diagnostics & Genomics Laboratories (HLAFAMAE)

Keywords

• Molecular biology research
• Biomedical research services
• Monoclonal antibody services
• Structural biology research
• Life sciences training

Headquarters

HQ city

Vienna

HQ country

Austria

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Research Funding and Grants: Primary revenue comprises competitive research funding from agencies such as the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), European Research Council (ERC) grants, and other international funding bodies supporting the institute's curiosity-driven research programs.
2. Fee-for-Service Scientific Facilities: The Monoclonal Antibody Facility generates revenue by providing custom monoclonal antibody development services to internal researchers, Medical University of Vienna, and external academic and non-academic customers on a fee basis.
3. Educational Programs: Revenue from doctoral education programs including the Vienna BioCenter PhD Program, Erasmus exchanges, and specialized training programs for undergraduates and postgraduates.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Max Perutz Labs is a Vienna BioCenter-based molecular biology research institute operating ~38 research groups across three programs (Mechanistic Cell and Developmental Biology; Chromatin, RNA and Chromosome Biology; Structural and Computational Biology). It sells fee-for-service access to scientific Core Facilities, most notably its Monoclonal Antibody Facility (custom monoclonal and polyclonal antibody generation), and delivers graduate and undergraduate training programs in molecular life sciences.

Product overview

Max Perutz Labs is a research institute (not a commercial software company) offering a portfolio of scientific service facilities and educational programs. Its primary product/service is the Monoclonal Antibody Facility (MAF), which provides custom monoclonal antibody development to internal and external academic/non-academic researchers. The institute also operates shared Scientific Facilities within the Vienna BioCenter campus, and delivers education programs including the Max Perutz PhD Fellowship and E-STEEM Fellowship for outstanding researchers. These offerings are interconnected: the Monoclonal Antibody Facility supports research across all labs, the shared facilities provide equipment and services across the campus, and the education programs train the next generation of scientists who staff the labs and utilize the facilities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Monoclonal Antibody Facility (MAF) Custom generation and validation of monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies for molecular biology research, offered to internal Vienna BioCenter groups and external academic and commercial clients on a fee-for-service basis.
• Max Perutz Labs Core Facilities Shared Core Facilities spanning monoclonal antibody generation, protein production, cryo-electron microscopy, X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, next-generation sequencing, flow cytometry, confocal and advanced light microscopy, histology, Drosophila and zebrafish facilities, computational biology / HPC and bioinformatic resources, and high-throughput screening.
• PhD and Postdoctoral Training Programs (incl. Vienna BioCenter PhD Program) Structured PhD and postdoctoral training in molecular biology, cell and developmental biology, RNA and chromatin biology, and structural and computational biology, run jointly with the Vienna BioCenter PhD Program partners and the institute's affiliated undergraduate/master's internship training programs.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 130 monoclonal antibody projects completed for more than 50 customers
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability6 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• University of ViennacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Max Perutz Labs are a joint venture between the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna, established in 2005. The university partnership provides access to academic resources, student pipelines, and institutional support for the institute's research and educational missions.
• Medical University of ViennacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint venture partner alongside the University of Vienna. The proximity to Vienna General Hospital (one of Europe's largest hospitals) creates unique opportunities for translational biomedical research connecting basic science to clinical applications.
• Vienna BioCentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Max Perutz Labs are embedded in the Vienna BioCenter, one of Europe's premier life sciences hotspots. This provides access to shared outstanding core facilities and creates a vibrant campus community with IMP, IMBA, GMI, and other life sciences institutions.
• Interreg SK-AT (StruBioMol Project)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe 3rd StruBioMol Workshop on macromolecular structure determination was funded by the Interreg SK-AT project StruBioMol, supporting cross-border scientific collaboration between Slovakia and Austria.
• IMP (Institute of Molecular Pathology)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Microsymposium on Small RNAs is co-organized by IMP, IMBA, GMI, and Max Perutz Labs. Both institutions share the Vienna BioCenter campus and collaborate on joint seminars and events.
• IMBA (Institute of Molecular Biotechnology)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-organizer of the Microsymposium on Small RNAs and other joint events. IMBA shares the Vienna BioCenter campus with Max Perutz Labs.
• GMI (Gregor Mendel Institute)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-organizer of the Microsymposium on Small RNAs and other joint events. GMI shares the Vienna BioCenter campus with Max Perutz Labs.
• Vienna BioCenter CommunityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Vienna BioCenter community, including VBC PhD Program students and campus institutions, collaborates on symposia, lectures, and shared resources including the Monoclonal Antibody Facility.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB): Historic UK Medical Research Council institute in Cambridge focused on molecular biology, structural biology, and cell biology. Closely comparable in research focus areas, group-leader structure, and Nobel-laureate heritage (Max Perutz Labs is named after LMB's Max Perutz).
• Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research: MIT-affiliated US biomedical research institute focused on molecular and cellular biology with a similar group-leader model and university partnership structure. Comparable in research mission and academic-industry translational orientation.
• European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL): Intergovernmental molecular biology research organization with sites across Europe. Comparable in molecular biology research mission, structural biology programs, and serving as a host for visiting researchers and training programs akin to those offered at Max Perutz Labs.
• Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI): Swiss biomedical research institute affiliated with the Novartis Research Foundation. Directly comparable in mission and scale (~300–400 staff), with similar research areas in epigenetics, neurobiology, and quantitative biology, and a similar group-leader driven academic model.
• Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) Mainz: German research institute focused on quantitative and molecular biology with epigenetics, DNA repair, and gene regulation. Comparable in size, research focus on chromatin/RNA biology, and academic group-leader model.
• The Francis Crick Institute: UK biomedical research institute in London with ~1,500 scientists. Comparable in mission and structure as a large-scale biomedical discovery institute with multiple research programs and core facilities. Larger in absolute scale but serves as a model for the multi-group-leader research institute structure.
• Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP): Sister research institute co-located on the Vienna BioCenter campus. Directly comparable: ~200 scientists, curiosity-driven biomedical research, Boehringer Ingelheim-funded, and co-organizer of joint events such as the Microsymposium on Small RNAs with Max Perutz Labs.
• Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology (GMI): Austrian Academy of Sciences molecular biology institute co-located at Vienna BioCenter. Closely comparable operating model: small-to-mid-sized research institute with shared facilities and joint symposia.
• Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA): Austrian Academy of Sciences institute also located on the Vienna BioCenter campus. Comparable in scope: molecular biology research, ~200 scientists, joint event organization, and shared core facilities with Max Perutz Labs.

Emerging players

• Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) / AbCellera Biologics: Commercial antibody-discovery platform company. Comparable to the Monoclonal Antibody Facility specifically as an antibody generation service, though operating at much larger commercial scale and serving the broader biotech market.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses3 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/MaxPerutzLabs

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Max Perutz Labs