Prof. Petra Ritter and Prof. Claudia Buß/Photo Credit: Charité
Focus: Post-traumatic stress disorder and early memories of infections
Berlin, 12 November 2026
A major honour for brain research at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin: The European Research Council’s (ERC) Synergy Grants are reserved for research projects so complex and demanding that they can only succeed through the collaboration of several outstanding scientists. Charité has now secured two of these grants: *PTSDynamicTwin*—coordinated by Prof. Petra Ritter, a neuroscientist at the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH), in partnership with two international collaborators—and *IMMUNE-MEMORY*, which will be led by Charité psychologist Prof. Claudia Buß alongside three other international researchers. Each project will receive approximately 10 million euros 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 on creating highly realistic computer simulations of complex brain networks, with the goal of using these models to predict the progression of diseases in individual patients. Her current project also utilizes these virtual brain models.
A digital “brain twin” reveals when the mind falls out of sync
Why do some people develop chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following traumatic events—such as accidents, natural disasters, or war—while others are able to regain their psychological equilibrium? This is the question that the *PTSDynamicTwin* project, coordinated by Petra Ritter at Charité and the BIH, aims to investigate. Joining the effort 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 becomes ill,” says Petra Ritter. To determine which processes, dictate whether or not an individual can successfully adapt to major changes, researchers are examining the brain not as a static snapshot, but in terms of its natural, dynamic fluctuations. To do this, they use the open-source platform “The Virtual Brain,” which allows them to create computer-based simulations of individual brain models. By integrating data from brain scans, wearable sensors, and behavioural tests, they construct a “digital twin” of the brain. This tool enables the team to map the specific brain dynamics of affected individuals, test therapeutic approaches, and identify the optimal timing for treatment.
Furthermore, the project addresses ethical questions and the requirements for the secure use of data. The goal is a proactive, dynamic form of precision medicine. “We want to be able to provide treatment at exactly the right moment—treatment that restores flexibility and quality of life to those affected,” emphasizes Petra Ritter. For patients, this could replace rigid therapeutic protocols, allowing for highly personalized care that is precisely tailored to their unique brain dynamics and life circumstances.
How—and what—does our brain learn from early-life infections?
Everyone remembers being sick as a child—the fever, specific smells, a particular place. Does the brain simply store these experiences of illness, or do these memories help regulate the immune system? This is precisely what Claudia Buß is investigating, in close collaboration with the project coordinator, Prof. Tomás Ryan of Trinity College Dublin, as well as Prof. Staci Bilbo of Duke University (USA) and Prof. Markus Werkle-Bergner of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin. Together, they are exploring whether—and how—the brain stores immune and inflammatory experiences as concrete memory traces, known as “engrams,” and utilizes them in future situations.
For many years, Claudia Buß has studied how early life experiences influence health. Consequently, her work—including this project—focuses on the period before birth. Together with her team, she will examine how chronic inflammatory processes during pregnancy—such as those associated with maternal obesity—shape the development of the fetal brain. “I want to understand how the brain stores early experiences and how these memories can influence our immune system throughout our lives,” the neuroscientist emphasizes. “If we can determine whether and why early stressors make some individuals more susceptible to illness, it could eventually lead to new approaches for prevention and treatment.” This is particularly relevant for conditions in which the immune system plays a key role, most notably autoimmune diseases.
Our brain is constantly learning from experience, using this knowledge to respond to future situations. It is quite possible that early developmental influences alter the capacity to form “immune memories,” or that they affect immune function, metabolism, behaviour, and cognitive performance later in life. Claudia Buß and her colleagues aim to uncover the fundamental mechanisms of communication between the brain and the immune system.
ERC Synergy Grant
Through its Synergy Grants, the European Research Council (ERC) supports teams of two to four outstanding scientists. These projects are intended to lead to discoveries at the intersections of different disciplines and to make substantial progress at the frontiers of existing knowledge. A key requirement is that the proposed research can only be achieved through the collaboration of the participating scientists. The maximum funding per project is slightly over ten million euros, covering a duration of up to six years. The selection process is highly competitive; this year, 48 Synergy projects were selected from approximately 940 submissions from across Europe.
Leave a Reply