What happens just 3 weeks after starting methotrexate in rheumatoid arthritis?

Teresa Preglej and I recently sat down to discuss our new study published in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, where we identified rapid immune changes following MTX treatment and potential early biomarkers of treatment response. In the video, we discuss the key findings and what they could mean for more personalized treatment decisions in RA.

Watch the video on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N-gktpaqwU
and check out our paper: https://lnkd.in/dDkXWnBT

Aug 20, 2026

We’re celebrating Lisabeth who has won a DOC Fellowship by the Austrian Academy of Sciences – Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW)

Congratulations Lisabeth!

Aug 19, 2026

How do you explain the immune system to a room full of kids? You let them become immune experts themselves!
Last week, members of our Division of Rheumatology, Medical University of Vienna at the Medizinische Universität Wien took part in KinderuniWien with the interactive workshop “Dein Führerschein fürs Immunsystem” (“Your Immune System Driver’s License”). Through a series of hands-on challenges, children discovered how immune cells protect us from disease, what happens when the immune system mistakenly attacks our own body in autoimmune diseases, and how biomedical research helps us better understand and treat these conditions.
The highlight? Every participant earned their very own Immune System Driver’s License after successfully completing the missions!
A big thank you to Teresa Preglej, Melanie Acosta, Caroline Neumeister, Lisabeth Emilius, Laura Hermann & Bianca Luckerbauer, for designing and delivering such an engaging workshop!

Aug 06, 2026

A warm welcome to Lena Teichert who recently joined our Division as assistant physician! Together with Lena and Helga Lechner-Radner, we will establish new therapeutic strategies for our IMID patients such as Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR)-T cells & bispecific T-cell engagers (BITEs). Lena, we wish you a smooth onboarding with us!

Jul 28, 2026

Das Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für Angewandte Immuntherapien (LBI-AIM) ist ein neu gegründetes Forschungsinstitut an der Medizinischen Universität Wien. Unser Ziel ist es, innovative Immuntherapien für immunvermittelte Erkrankungen schneller von der Forschung in die klinische Anwendung zu bringen. Dafür verbinden wir exzellente Grundlagenforschung mit translationaler Medizin.

Deshalb suchen wir eine:n Administrative Manager:in (all genders).

Diese Position bietet weit mehr als klassische Administration: Sie haben die seltene Gelegenheit, den Aufbau eines neuen internationalen Forschungsinstituts von Beginn an aktiv mitzugestalten. Gemeinsam mit der Institutsleitung tragen Sie dazu bei, organisatorische Strukturen aufzubauen, administrative Prozesse zu entwickeln und die Zusammenarbeit mit nationalen und internationalen Partner:innen aus Wissenschaft, Klinik und Industrie zu koordinieren.

Alle Informationen zur Stelle finden Sie hier:
https://karriere.lbg.ac.at/de/Job/102857/Administrative-Managerin-(all-genders)

Jul 22, 2026

At our lab activity day we hiked the Stadtwanderweg 4 and had a recharging dinner together. This was a great moment for us to exchange and reconnect in a more casual setting. Happy summer to everyone from the Bonelli team!

Jul 17, 2026

Already 30 months since we embarked on the journey of DarkMatter!
Our team, represented by Juan Manuel Sacnun and François Bonnay, PhD, met with the consortium at the Karolinska Institutet Institute in Stockholm to discuss how to best approach the second half of the project and to get to know many new faces who recently joined this research effort. A productive meeting wonderfully hosted by Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam and coordinated by Thomas Vogl and Eutema research services.

Jul 15, 2026

What a great day at last Friday’s IRC Retreat of Medical University of Vienna!

It was a great day with lots of interesting science, inspiring talks, and good conversations. Thank you to everyone who shared their work. It was a pleasure to be part of it.

Teresa: “I’m very happy and grateful that our work was selected for the Oral Presentation Award. Thank you to the organizers and the jury for this recognition. The travel grant that comes with the award will help me attend my next conference, and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Congratulations to all the awardees, and thanks to everyone who made the retreat such a great event!

Jun 30, 2026

Teresa Preglej, a talented postdoc from my team has been selected for an oral presentation at the upcoming Immunology Research Cluster (IRC) Retreat at the Medizinische Universität Wien, an important forum for the immunology research community in Vienna on June 26th at Parkhotel Schönbrunn.
She will present her most recent work on time-resolved immune dynamics in rheumatoid arthritis under methotrexate therapy. Look forward to her presentation (scheduled 17:25-17:50), and more generally to an exciting day of scientific exchange at the IRC retreat!

Jun 24, 2026

Back from an excellent EULAR – European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology 2026 edition in London where Michael had the privilege to co-chair two inspiring sessions with Kerstin Klein and Anne Troldborg, and witness outstanding presentations and discussions in basic and translational rheumatology. I’m looking forward to continuing these conversations in Berlin next year

Jun 15, 2026

Two weeks ago, I (Michael) had the privilege of delivering my inaugural lecture as Professor of Experimental Rheumatology at the Medizinische Universität Wien and I am deeply grateful to all colleagues, collaborators, mentors, and team members, past and present, who have helped shape the work that led to this moment.
My sincere thanks to the Medizinische Universität Wien for the trust placed in me through this appointment, to Markus Müller for his masterful hosting of the event, and to Daniel Aletaha for his wonderful introduction and longstanding mentorship. Most of all however, I would like to thank my team, the Bonelli Lab. Their dedication, creativity, and commitment are the foundation of everything we have achieved together.
I am looking forward to the next chapter and to continuing our efforts to better understand rheumatic diseases and translate scientific discoveries into meaningful advances for patients.

Jun 08, 2026

Michael is looking forward to this year’s EULAR – European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology 2026 Congress in London and to chairing the two following sessions:
– “Epigenetic Modulation – New Horizons in RMDs” together with Kerstin Klein on Thursday next week (04/06), 14:45-16:00 BST (Connaught Room 3 & 4)
– “How do cells build their home – Structural immunity in RA” together with Anne Troldborg on Friday next week (05/06), 14:45-16:00 BST (Connaught Room 1 & 2)

Both sessions feature outstanding speakers and will address rapidly evolving areas that are reshaping how we understand chronic inflammation and tissue organization in rheumatic disease. Consider joining us if you’re attending EULAR 2026!
I’m looking forward to chairing inspiring discussions and meeting many colleagues from across the field in London!

May 28, 2026

Michael participated to the excellent Grazer Kongress der klinischen Immunologie (https://insights.medunigraz.at/events/detail/grazer-kongress-der-klinischen-immunologie) organized by Prof. Jens Thiel (Medizinische Universität Graz) earlier this month. The conference brought together important discussions across autoimmunity, autoinflammation, immunodeficiency, and emerging cellular therapies, highlighting how closely connected these fields have become. Meetings like this are invaluable not only because of the science, but also because they promote exchanges between clinicians and researchers across disciplines.

May 19, 2026

A very warm welcome to Anna Mrak, who recently joined our team. Anna is a skilled bioinformatician and data scientist, who previously worked at Scribe Therapeutics and who will strengthen our expertise among many projects in data governance and -omics data processing. Welcome Anna, we wish you a smooth onboarding with us!

May 04, 2026

What an amazing few days at EWRR2026 in beautiful Lübeck! Huge thanks to the organizers for putting together such a meaningful event for everyone in the rheumatology research world and very proud of our team, Marie Brinkmann, Bianca Luckerbauer, Lisabeth Emilius, Laura Hermann, Teresa Preglej, for representing our science so well along these past days. The conversations were so rich, and it was wonderful to connect with colleagues old and new (Markus Hoffmann, Gabriela Riemekasten, it was great to reconnect!). Already looking forward to the next edition in 2027!

Apr 28, 2026

Like every two years, our team proudly took part in the recent event of the Long Night of Science, hosted by the Medical University of Vienna to engage with the general public and patients. A fantastic night where we showcased our research with hands-on experiences, a survey and dedicated material to play with for kids. This was a powerful evening in which we tried our very best to communicate our passion and knowledge while answering many smart questions from patients and the general public.
Thank you to all of you who passed by and interacted with our team, we look forward to seeing you again in 2028!

Apr 27, 2026

What do you know about rheumatology research?
As part of the Long Night of Research 2026, we invite you to take part in our survey on rheumatology research: Facts & Myths!
By taking part, you’ll help us make our research easier to understand, more transparent, and better communicated.
Pop by and pick up a cool sticker!
We look forward to seeing you!

Apr 22, 2026

We are getting ready and excited for the upcoming EWRR conference (European Workshop for Rheumatology Research, an essential event for experimental rheumatology), starting tomorrow in Lübeck, Germany.
Don’t miss our presenters:
– Bianca Luckerbauer will present “Molecular control of regulatory T cells by nuclear factor interleukin-3 regulated” on Friday, 14:50, Room MF500
– Michael Bonelli will present “Synovial pathotypes in RA, interaction with adaptive immune cells” on Thursday, 15:40, Room MF500
– Marie Brinkmann, Lisabeth Emilius, Laura Hermann and Teresa Preglej will present there poster in the poster sessions – make sure to stop by!
We look forward to reconnect with the Rheumatology Research community – see you very soon in Lübeck!

Apr 15, 2026

SummArIzeR is our new R package designed to streamline and smarten enrichment analysis, developed by Anela Tosevska & Marie Brinkmann!
Enrichment results from multiple conditions and multiple databases often produces overlapping and redundant terms, complicating the interpretation and visalization. SummArIzeR makes this easy with the help of AI.

Key features:
– Seamlessly integrates EnrichR for enrichment analysis.
– Supports multiple experimental conditions, with separate handling of up- and downregulated genes.
– Filters and clusters enriched terms using gene overlap and a random walk algorithm.
– Generates prompts for cluster summarization for Claude, ChatGPT and co.
– Outputs publication-ready heatmaps for fast and intuitive visualization.

Try it out, and let us know what you think!
https://lnkd.in/duYgquy7
https://lnkd.in/dwv5B-xz
Hashtag#RStats Hashtag#Bioinformatics Hashtag#GeneExpression Hashtag#PathwayAnalysis Hashtag#EnrichmentAnalysis Hashtag#LLMsInScience Hashtag#OpenSourceScience Hashtag#GPT4 Hashtag#SummArIzeR

Apr 09, 2026

Our team recently participated in the 2nd Research Symposium of the comprehensive center for musculoskeletal diseases (CCMSD) in Vienna.
A well-organized meeting with a clear focus on translational musculoskeletal research and interdisciplinary exchange. This was also a highlight for our team: our two talented PhD students Marie Brinkmann and Laura Hermann presented their work in oral sessions.
Thanks to the organizers for putting together a focused and relevant program, and looking forward to the next edition!

Apr 03, 2026