Sven Klumpe is a structural cell biologist that studies mobile genetic elements by cryo-electron tomography, a powerful imaging approach that allows scientists to visualize molecular structures inside cells at high resolution. His work combines advanced microscopy with technology development to make these methods more accessible and automated at the IMP and IMBA.
The project funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s Biohub supports the development of fibsem-os, an open-source, community-driven software platform designed to simplify and unify the control of focused ion beam–scanning electron microscopes (FIB-SEM). FIB-SEMs are used to prepare thin sections of cells, opening windows into cellular ultrastructure at high resolution. The software aims to make complex microscopy workflows easier to use, more reproducible, and available across different microscope manufacturers.
“Together with my colleagues Patrick Cleeve and Georg Ramm at Monash University, I am very grateful and excited about this opportunity,” says Sven Klumpe, who joined the campus only last year. “This grant enables us to bring the cryo-FIB community together and develop sustainable software solutions with and for the community.”
The grant will support open-source software development over the next three years and funds a community member for full-time development of the platform and the incorporated workflows. The project strengthens international collaboration by linking the Vienna BioCenter with partners at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia) and the Biohub (San Francisco, United States of America).
Through its focus on open-source software, the initiative contributes to shared scientific infrastructure that can be adopted and improved by researchers worldwide, reinforcing the Vienna BioCenter’s role in shaping accessible and reproducible microscopy technologies.
About Sven Klumpe
Sven Klumpe studied biochemistry for his undergraduate and Master’s degree at the Technical University of Munich (Germany). After a Master’s thesis in the lab of Wolfgang Baumeister at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, he remained affiliated with this university for his PhD, for which he did research in the lab of Jürgen Plitzko at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried and Martin Beck at the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics in Frankfurt. During his studies, Klumpe spent time at the Biologia Molecular Marina BIOMMAR laboratory (Universidad de los Andes, Colombia) and at the Institut Parisien de Chimie Moleculaire (Sorbonne Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, France). In recognition of his research and academic achievements, Klumpe was presented with a number of awards and honours, including a prestigious fellowship of the German National Merit Foundation. He joined IMBA and IMP to start his own research group in 2025.
About the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s Biohub
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) Biohub is a research and funding network that supports collaborative science and the development of shared tools for biology and medicine. Through its Biohub programs, CZI funds international projects that emphasize open science, technology development, and community-driven research, with the goal of accelerating scientific progress by making methods and resources broadly accessible.