Alexander von Gabain obtained his Ph.D. in Genetics at the University of Heidelberg and held a post-doctorate position at the Stanford University. In the 1980s and 1990s he was a Professor at the University of Umeå and at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden as well as advisor to pharmaceutical and biotech companies. During 1992-1998 he was Chair of Microbiology at the University of Vienna at the Campus Vienna Biocenter, Austria. In 1998 he co-founded Intercell AG and led the company as CEO, until it was successful floated on the Vienna Stock Market in 2005. From 2005 until 2009 he was Member of the Executive Management Board and CSO of the Company. He is holding a professorship of Microbiology at the Max Perutz Laboratories, Vienna and a foreign adjunct professorship at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. He is member of several professional organizations and serves in Boards of biotech enterprises, including TVM Capital in Munich. Recently, he has been appointed into the Governing Board of the European Institute of Technology (EIT).