Christoph Bock Lab @ CeMM & MedUni Vienna
@bocklab.bsky.social
Technology-driven biomedical research at CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine & MedUni Vienna #cancer #immunology #bioinformatics #AI #singlecell #CRISPR
Additional information about our research: cemm.at/research/gro... | bocklab.org | med-ai.org
Full job posting: cemm.at/fileadmin/im...
Further details & application portal: cemm.at/postdoc-prog... & cemm.onlyfy.jobs/job/7k2624z5
Full job posting: cemm.at/fileadmin/im...
Further details & application portal: cemm.at/postdoc-prog... & cemm.onlyfy.jobs/job/7k2624z5
Medical Epigenomics | Bock Lab at CeMM & MedUni Vienna
Led by Christoph Bock, the Medical Epigenomics Lab pursues technology-driven biomedical research for cancer, immunology, and precision medicine.
bocklab.org
February 9, 2026 at 4:39 PM
Additional information about our research: cemm.at/research/gro... | bocklab.org | med-ai.org
Full job posting: cemm.at/fileadmin/im...
Further details & application portal: cemm.at/postdoc-prog... & cemm.onlyfy.jobs/job/7k2624z5
Full job posting: cemm.at/fileadmin/im...
Further details & application portal: cemm.at/postdoc-prog... & cemm.onlyfy.jobs/job/7k2624z5
Maybe get some inspiration from our recent papers and consider proposing a project idea or research direction (as part of your application's cover letter) that connects your and our research expertise. Be ambitious & creative!
February 9, 2026 at 4:39 PM
Maybe get some inspiration from our recent papers and consider proposing a project idea or research direction (as part of your application's cover letter) that connects your and our research expertise. Be ambitious & creative!
What excites you? What expertise do you bring from your PhD? What do you envision your future independent research group to focus on (or the start-up company you will found)? What could be a truly exciting & impactful postdoc project?
February 9, 2026 at 4:39 PM
What excites you? What expertise do you bring from your PhD? What do you envision your future independent research group to focus on (or the start-up company you will found)? What could be a truly exciting & impactful postdoc project?
3. Cancer: Epigenetic tumor heterogeneity (nature.com/articles/s41...)
4. Technology: High-content CRISPR screening for causality at scale (nature.com/articles/s43...)
5. Biomedical ML/AI: Chat-based single-cell data analysis with natural language (nature.com/articles/s41...)
4. Technology: High-content CRISPR screening for causality at scale (nature.com/articles/s43...)
5. Biomedical ML/AI: Chat-based single-cell data analysis with natural language (nature.com/articles/s41...)
Multimodal learning enables chat-based exploration of single-cell data - Nature Biotechnology
CellWhisperer uses multimodal learning of transcriptomes and text to answer questions about single-cell RNA-sequencing data.
nature.com
February 9, 2026 at 4:39 PM
3. Cancer: Epigenetic tumor heterogeneity (nature.com/articles/s41...)
4. Technology: High-content CRISPR screening for causality at scale (nature.com/articles/s43...)
5. Biomedical ML/AI: Chat-based single-cell data analysis with natural language (nature.com/articles/s41...)
4. Technology: High-content CRISPR screening for causality at scale (nature.com/articles/s43...)
5. Biomedical ML/AI: Chat-based single-cell data analysis with natural language (nature.com/articles/s41...)
Examples of our recent research:
1. Immunology: Immune regulation by non-immune cells (nature.com/articles/s41...)
2. Cell engineering: CRISPR-optimized CAR T cell immunotherapy (www.nature.com/articles/s41...)
1. Immunology: Immune regulation by non-immune cells (nature.com/articles/s41...)
2. Cell engineering: CRISPR-optimized CAR T cell immunotherapy (www.nature.com/articles/s41...)
Structural cells are key regulators of organ-specific immune responses - Nature
Structural cells implement a broad range of immune-regulatory functions beyond their roles as barriers and connective tissues, and they utilize an epigenetically encoded potential for immune gene acti...
nature.com
February 9, 2026 at 4:39 PM
Examples of our recent research:
1. Immunology: Immune regulation by non-immune cells (nature.com/articles/s41...)
2. Cell engineering: CRISPR-optimized CAR T cell immunotherapy (www.nature.com/articles/s41...)
1. Immunology: Immune regulation by non-immune cells (nature.com/articles/s41...)
2. Cell engineering: CRISPR-optimized CAR T cell immunotherapy (www.nature.com/articles/s41...)
We are open to purely wet-lab candidates (including organoids & mouse models), purely computational candidates (including ML/AI), and those who want to pursue a mix of wet-lab & computational work. We are a highly interdisciplinary & collaborative research group with ambitions in molecular medicine.
February 9, 2026 at 4:39 PM
We are open to purely wet-lab candidates (including organoids & mouse models), purely computational candidates (including ML/AI), and those who want to pursue a mix of wet-lab & computational work. We are a highly interdisciplinary & collaborative research group with ambitions in molecular medicine.
HIRING: We recruit postdocs via the CeMM Pre-ERC Postdoc Program (cemm.at/postdoc-prog...). Seeking 3 types of candidates: (1) experimental systems biology in immunity or cancer; (2) bioinformatics & biomedical ML/AI; (3) tech-dev & bioengineering (CRISPR, single-cell, spatial, cell programming).
PostDoc Program
CeMM Pre-ERC Postdoc Program
cemm.at
February 9, 2026 at 4:39 PM
HIRING: We recruit postdocs via the CeMM Pre-ERC Postdoc Program (cemm.at/postdoc-prog...). Seeking 3 types of candidates: (1) experimental systems biology in immunity or cancer; (2) bioinformatics & biomedical ML/AI; (3) tech-dev & bioengineering (CRISPR, single-cell, spatial, cell programming).
Further details & application portal: apply.cemm.at
Additional information about our research: cemm.at/research/gro... | bocklab.org | med-ai.org
Additional information about our research: cemm.at/research/gro... | bocklab.org | med-ai.org
Medical Epigenomics | Bock Lab at CeMM & MedUni Vienna
Led by Christoph Bock, the Medical Epigenomics Lab pursues technology-driven biomedical research for cancer, immunology, and precision medicine.
bocklab.org
December 22, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Further details & application portal: apply.cemm.at
Additional information about our research: cemm.at/research/gro... | bocklab.org | med-ai.org
Additional information about our research: cemm.at/research/gro... | bocklab.org | med-ai.org
What excites you? What could be a great PhD project? Please have a look at our recent publications and consider proposing an idea or research direction (as part of your application's cover letter) that you might want to pursue in our PhD. (4/5)
December 22, 2025 at 12:22 PM
What excites you? What could be a great PhD project? Please have a look at our recent publications and consider proposing an idea or research direction (as part of your application's cover letter) that you might want to pursue in our PhD. (4/5)
4. Technology: High-content CRISPR screening for causality at scale (nature.com/articles/s43...)
5. Biomedical ML/AI: Chat-based single-cell data analysis with natural language (nature.com/articles/s41...)
5. Biomedical ML/AI: Chat-based single-cell data analysis with natural language (nature.com/articles/s41...)
Multimodal learning enables chat-based exploration of single-cell data - Nature Biotechnology
CellWhisperer uses multimodal learning of transcriptomes and text to answer questions about single-cell RNA-sequencing data.
nature.com
December 22, 2025 at 12:22 PM
4. Technology: High-content CRISPR screening for causality at scale (nature.com/articles/s43...)
5. Biomedical ML/AI: Chat-based single-cell data analysis with natural language (nature.com/articles/s41...)
5. Biomedical ML/AI: Chat-based single-cell data analysis with natural language (nature.com/articles/s41...)
Examples of our recent research:
1. Immunology: Immune regulation by non-immune cells (nature.com/articles/s41...)
2. Cell engineering: CRISPR-optimized CAR T cell immunotherapy (www.nature.com/articles/s41...)
3. Cancer: Epigenetic tumor heterogeneity (nature.com/articles/s41...)
1. Immunology: Immune regulation by non-immune cells (nature.com/articles/s41...)
2. Cell engineering: CRISPR-optimized CAR T cell immunotherapy (www.nature.com/articles/s41...)
3. Cancer: Epigenetic tumor heterogeneity (nature.com/articles/s41...)
Systematic discovery of CRISPR-boosted CAR T cell immunotherapies - Nature
CELLFIE, a CRISPR platform for optimizing cell-based immunotherapies, identifies gene knockouts that enhance CAR T cell efficacy using in vitro and in vivo screens.
www.nature.com
December 22, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Examples of our recent research:
1. Immunology: Immune regulation by non-immune cells (nature.com/articles/s41...)
2. Cell engineering: CRISPR-optimized CAR T cell immunotherapy (www.nature.com/articles/s41...)
3. Cancer: Epigenetic tumor heterogeneity (nature.com/articles/s41...)
1. Immunology: Immune regulation by non-immune cells (nature.com/articles/s41...)
2. Cell engineering: CRISPR-optimized CAR T cell immunotherapy (www.nature.com/articles/s41...)
3. Cancer: Epigenetic tumor heterogeneity (nature.com/articles/s41...)
HIRING: We recruit PhD students via the AITHYRA-CeMM PhD Program (cemm.at/phd-program). Seeking 3 types of candidates: (1) experimental systems biology in immunity or cancer; (2) bioinformatics & biomedical ML/AI; (3) tech-dev & bioengineering (CRISPR, single-cell, spatial, cell programming) (1/5)
CeMM PhD Program – Molecular Medicine Research in Vienna
Join the CeMM PhD Program in Vienna and pursue cutting-edge research in cancer, immunology, aging, and precision medicine. Applications open in 2025!
cemm.at
December 22, 2025 at 12:22 PM
HIRING: We recruit PhD students via the AITHYRA-CeMM PhD Program (cemm.at/phd-program). Seeking 3 types of candidates: (1) experimental systems biology in immunity or cancer; (2) bioinformatics & biomedical ML/AI; (3) tech-dev & bioengineering (CRISPR, single-cell, spatial, cell programming) (1/5)
Nice example of "garbage-in, garbage out" behavior of CellWhisperer. We could probably add checks to mark meaningless queries. But for now we rely on cooperative users, and CellWhisperer has a clear warning: "Please keep in mind that CellWhisperer is an AI system and may produce misleading results."
November 16, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Nice example of "garbage-in, garbage out" behavior of CellWhisperer. We could probably add checks to mark meaningless queries. But for now we rely on cooperative users, and CellWhisperer has a clear warning: "Please keep in mind that CellWhisperer is an AI system and may produce misleading results."
Reposted by Christoph Bock Lab @ CeMM & MedUni Vienna
A paper in Nature Biotechnology presents CellWhisperer, which uses multimodal learning of transcriptomes and text to answer questions about single-cell RNA-sequencing data. go.nature.com/3XqzItR 🧬 🧪
November 15, 2025 at 8:26 PM
A paper in Nature Biotechnology presents CellWhisperer, which uses multimodal learning of transcriptomes and text to answer questions about single-cell RNA-sequencing data. go.nature.com/3XqzItR 🧬 🧪
Reposted by Christoph Bock Lab @ CeMM & MedUni Vienna
Multimodal learning enables chat-based exploration of single-cell data - @bocklab.bsky.social @cemm.oeaw.ac.at @meduniwien.ac.at go.nature.com/3WPGJnW
Multimodal learning enables chat-based exploration of single-cell data - Nature Biotechnology
CellWhisperer uses multimodal learning of transcriptomes and text to answer questions about single-cell RNA-sequencing data.
go.nature.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Multimodal learning enables chat-based exploration of single-cell data - @bocklab.bsky.social @cemm.oeaw.ac.at @meduniwien.ac.at go.nature.com/3WPGJnW
🤝 Huge thanks to the team! Moritz Schaefer & Peter Peneder with Daniel Malzl, Salvo Lombardo, Mihaela Peycheva, Jake Burton, Anna Hakobyan, Varun Sharma, Thomas Krausgruber, Celine Sin, Jörg Menche, Eleni Tomazou, Christoph Bock. @cemm.oeaw.ac.at, @meduniwien.ac.at, @stanna-ccri.bsky.social (11/11)
November 11, 2025 at 12:52 PM
🤝 Huge thanks to the team! Moritz Schaefer & Peter Peneder with Daniel Malzl, Salvo Lombardo, Mihaela Peycheva, Jake Burton, Anna Hakobyan, Varun Sharma, Thomas Krausgruber, Celine Sin, Jörg Menche, Eleni Tomazou, Christoph Bock. @cemm.oeaw.ac.at, @meduniwien.ac.at, @stanna-ccri.bsky.social (11/11)
🧬 CellWhisperer introduces a chat-based way to explore scRNA-seq data. By enabling natural language analysis, it bridges biologists and bioinformaticians—paving the way for AI-driven bioinformatics assistants. (10/11)
November 11, 2025 at 12:52 PM
🧬 CellWhisperer introduces a chat-based way to explore scRNA-seq data. By enabling natural language analysis, it bridges biologists and bioinformaticians—paving the way for AI-driven bioinformatics assistants. (10/11)
Ready to talk to cells?
📖 Read the paper: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
🧬 Try the web app with public datasets: cellwhisperer.bocklab.org
🖥️ Analyze your own datasets: github.com/epigen/cellw...
(9/11)
📖 Read the paper: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
🧬 Try the web app with public datasets: cellwhisperer.bocklab.org
🖥️ Analyze your own datasets: github.com/epigen/cellw...
(9/11)
Multimodal learning enables chat-based exploration of single-cell data - Nature Biotechnology
CellWhisperer uses multimodal learning of transcriptomes and text to answer questions about single-cell RNA-sequencing data.
doi.org
November 11, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Ready to talk to cells?
📖 Read the paper: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
🧬 Try the web app with public datasets: cellwhisperer.bocklab.org
🖥️ Analyze your own datasets: github.com/epigen/cellw...
(9/11)
📖 Read the paper: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
🧬 Try the web app with public datasets: cellwhisperer.bocklab.org
🖥️ Analyze your own datasets: github.com/epigen/cellw...
(9/11)
📚 We trained on >1 million bulk & pseudo-bulk transcriptomes with textual annotations that we AI-curated from GEO & @CELLxGENE Census. Our training data is open source and useful for developing multimodal biomedical AI models and future bioinformatics research assistants. (8/11)
November 11, 2025 at 12:52 PM
📚 We trained on >1 million bulk & pseudo-bulk transcriptomes with textual annotations that we AI-curated from GEO & @CELLxGENE Census. Our training data is open source and useful for developing multimodal biomedical AI models and future bioinformatics research assistants. (8/11)
🪄 How does CellWhisperer work behind the scenes? We trained a multimodal AI that links transcriptomes and text, enabling free-text search and annotation of RNA profiles. And we connected this model to an LLM that we fine-tuned into a chat assistant for transcriptome data (7/11)
November 11, 2025 at 12:52 PM
🪄 How does CellWhisperer work behind the scenes? We trained a multimodal AI that links transcriptomes and text, enabling free-text search and annotation of RNA profiles. And we connected this model to an LLM that we fine-tuned into a chat assistant for transcriptome data (7/11)
🚀 We also validated CellWhisperer’s chat-based analysis with conventional bioinformatics. CellWhisperer was >4x faster (and 10x cooler 😊). Our recommendation: Use CellWhisperer for dataset exploration – but statistics is still important to ensure rigor & reproducibility (6/11)
November 11, 2025 at 12:52 PM
🚀 We also validated CellWhisperer’s chat-based analysis with conventional bioinformatics. CellWhisperer was >4x faster (and 10x cooler 😊). Our recommendation: Use CellWhisperer for dataset exploration – but statistics is still important to ensure rigor & reproducibility (6/11)
🆕 The CellWhisperer paper (doi.org/10.1038/s415...) includes several new analyses beyond our 2024 bioRxiv preprint (biorxiv.org/content/10.1...). For example, we used CellWhisperer for an AI-guided analysis of human organ development (5/11)
November 11, 2025 at 12:52 PM
🆕 The CellWhisperer paper (doi.org/10.1038/s415...) includes several new analyses beyond our 2024 bioRxiv preprint (biorxiv.org/content/10.1...). For example, we used CellWhisperer for an AI-guided analysis of human organ development (5/11)
🔬 You can easily query large transcriptome datasets for your favorite biological process using CellWhisperer. Just open Tabula Sapiens (cellwhisperer.cemm.at/tabulasapiens/) or GEO (cellwhisperer.cemm.at/geo/) in CellWhisperer & type your query into the chat box – for example “infection” (4/11)
November 11, 2025 at 12:52 PM
🔬 You can easily query large transcriptome datasets for your favorite biological process using CellWhisperer. Just open Tabula Sapiens (cellwhisperer.cemm.at/tabulasapiens/) or GEO (cellwhisperer.cemm.at/geo/) in CellWhisperer & type your query into the chat box – for example “infection” (4/11)
🔍 We investigate one of the identified cell clusters by selecting the cells & prompting CellWhisperer with ‘Describe these cells in detail’. This interactive workflow is enabled by seamless integration of the CellWhisperer AI chat box into a version of CELLxGENE Explorer (3/11)
November 11, 2025 at 12:52 PM
🔍 We investigate one of the identified cell clusters by selecting the cells & prompting CellWhisperer with ‘Describe these cells in detail’. This interactive workflow is enabled by seamless integration of the CellWhisperer AI chat box into a version of CELLxGENE Explorer (3/11)
⚙️ To get started, let’s find cells by typing into the CellWhisperer chat box. For example ‘Show me structural cells with immune functions’. CellWhisperer scores each transcriptome by how well it matches this textual query and colors by query match (red: high, blue: low) (2/11)
November 11, 2025 at 12:52 PM
⚙️ To get started, let’s find cells by typing into the CellWhisperer chat box. For example ‘Show me structural cells with immune functions’. CellWhisperer scores each transcriptome by how well it matches this textual query and colors by query match (red: high, blue: low) (2/11)