Wilfried Ellmeier is Professor of Immunobiology and head of the Institute of Immunology at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria. He studied biochemistry at the University of Vienna, carried out his doctoral thesis at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP Vienna) and performed postdoctoral studies at the Skirball Institute (NYU Medical Center) in New York. His research interests focus on epigenetic and transcriptional control mechanisms regulating T cell-mediated immunity. He received several prizes including the START program award for highly-qualified young scientists from the Austrian Science Fund and the Novartis award for biology. He is a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and a board member of the Austrian Science Fund. He also has a strong interest in science policy and serves as the current President of the BioMed Alliance in Europe.