Two Prestigious ERC Synergy Grants Awarded to Charité
Focus on post-traumatic stress disorders and early memories of infections
A major distinction for brain research at Charité: European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Grants are reserved for research projects so complex and ambitious that they can only be successfully carried out through collaboration between several outstanding scientists. Berlin’s university medical centre has now secured funding for two such projects: PTSDynamicTwin, coordinated by Prof. Petra Ritter, ECN PI and neuroscientist at the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH), together with two international partners; and IMMUNE-MEMORY, which Charité psychologist and ECN PI Prof. Claudia Buß will carry out in collaboration with three other international researchers. Each project will initially receive approximately €10 million in funding over the next six years.
As a co-founder of the digital research platform The Virtual Brain, Petra Ritter has spent many years working to simulate complex brain networks as realistically as possible on computers, with the aim of predicting individual disease trajectories. Virtual brain models will also play a central role in the current project.
ERC grant recipients Prof. Petra Ritter and Prof. Claudia Buß © Charité
Digital brain twins reveal when the mind loses its balance
Why do some people develop chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following traumatic experiences such as accidents, natural disasters or war, while others manage to regain their psychological equilibrium? This is the central question that the PTSDynamicTwin project, coordinated by Petra Ritter at Charité and the BIH, aims to investigate. Joining her in this initiative are trauma researcher Prof. Thalma Hendler from Tel Aviv University and Japanese neuroscientist and physicist Dr. Mitsuo Kawato.
“The ability to respond flexibly to change determines whether a person remains resilient or develops an illness,” says Petra Ritter. To identify the processes that determine whether people can successfully adapt to profound changes, the researchers will not view the brain simply as a static snapshot, but will instead examine its natural, dynamic fluctuations. To achieve this, they will use the open-source platform The Virtual Brain, which enables them to simulate individual brain models on computers. Brain scans, wearable sensors used in everyday life and behavioural tests will be combined to create a “digital twin” of the brain. This digital twin will allow the research team to model the individual brain dynamics of affected patients, test therapeutic approaches and identify the optimal timing for treatment.
As part of the project, the researchers will also address ethical questions and establish the conditions necessary for the safe use of data. The ultimate goal is to develop predictive, dynamic precision medicine. “We want to be able to offer treatment at exactly the right moment, helping those affected regain their flexibility and quality of life,” Petra Ritter emphasises. For patients, this could mean replacing rigid treatment protocols with personalised care tailored to their individual brain dynamics and life circumstances.
How and what does our brain learn from early infections?
Everyone remembers being ill as a child – the fever, particular smells, or a specific place. Does the brain simply store experiences of illness, or do these memories even help regulate the immune system? This is precisely what Claudia Buß is investigating in close collaboration with the project coordinator, Prof. Tomás Ryan from Trinity College Dublin, as well as Prof. Staci Bilbo from Duke University, USA, and Prof. Markus Werkle-Bergner from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin. Together, they are exploring whether and how the brain stores immune and inflammatory experiences in the form of specific memory traces, known as engrams, and uses them to respond to future situations.
For many years, Claudia Buß has been researching the influence of early-life experiences on health. Accordingly, the period before birth is also at the centre of her work in this project. Together with her team, she will investigate in humans how chronic inflammatory processes during pregnancy shape the development of the child's brain, for example in cases of maternal obesity. “I want to understand how the brain stores early experiences and how these memories can influence our immune system throughout our lives,” emphasises the neuroscientist. “If we understand whether and why early-life stressors make some people more susceptible to disease, this could ultimately open up new approaches to prevention and treatment.” This is particularly relevant for diseases in which the immune system plays an important role, especially autoimmune diseases.
Our brains continuously learn from experiences and use this knowledge to respond to future situations. It is possible that influences during early development alter the ability to form immune memories or affect immune function, metabolism, behaviour and cognitive performance later in life. Claudia Buß and her colleagues aim to uncover the fundamental mechanisms underlying communication between the brain and the immune system.
ERC Synergy Grant
Through its Synergy Grant programme, the European Research Council (ERC) supports teams of two to four outstanding researchers. The projects are intended to generate discoveries at the intersections of different disciplines and achieve substantial advances at the frontiers of existing knowledge. A key requirement is that the proposed research can only be carried out through collaboration among the participating researchers. The maximum funding per project amounts to slightly more than €10 million for a period of up to six years. The selection process is highly competitive: this year, 48 Synergy projects were selected from approximately 940 applications submitted from across Europe.
Original Publication: Zwei der renommierten ERC Synergy Grants kommen an die Charité
Source: Charité