05/22/2025 | Press release | Archived content
Together with its partners, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlinhas achieved a major success in connection with the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments: Two of the submitted Cluster of Excellence proposals headed by Universitätsmedizin Berlinare now to be funded. This was announced today by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Council of Science and Humanities (WR). The new Cluster of Excellence - ImmunoPreCept - is set to commence its work at the beginning of 2026. The NeuroCure cluster, which has existed since 2007, will be able to continue its research in a fourth funding period.
It is now official: 70 Clusters of Excellence are being funded nationwide in the Excellence Strategy research competition - including two clusters under the auspices of Charité. A new research network succeeded in convincing the selection committee: ImmunoPreCept strengthens the focus on prevention at Charité's Benjamin FranklinCampus and will explore the mechanisms that keep us healthy and how diseases can be prevented before the first symptoms appear. In addition, Charité's NeuroCure Cluster of Excellence is delighted to announce a fourth funding period. The network has been researching neurological and psychiatric diseases such as Alzheimer's, depression or strokes since 2007. Both Clusters of Excellence are investigating clinically relevant issues, the results of which could have immediate significance for the population of Berlin and beyond.
Prof. Heyo K. Kroemer, CEO of Charité, explains: "The fact that two of our proposals for funding have been approved - including an entirely new initiative and NeuroCure, a firmly established cluster - is a tremendous success and demonstrates the extremely close connection between research, translation and patient care at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Together with our host of partners in Berlin, we have once again succeeded in developing innovative concepts that we are now able to realize. Both clusters will help shape the future of medicine with their respective focus areas - in prevention and the neurosciences. This is very good news for Berlin as a science hub and strengthens our integration within the Berlin University Alliance."
Prof. Joachim Spranger, Dean of Charité, commented: "Today's decision on our Clusters of Excellence impressively demonstrates Charité's research strength with a fully integrated Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), close and trusting cooperation with the Max Delbrück Center and the additional strong partners in the Berlin scientific community. The innovative vigor and high level of expertise of our scientists, the impressive perseverance and motivation of all those involved, but also clear and relevant questions and an extremely trusting and successful collaboration with our university and non-university partners proved the key to success. I would like to thank everyone involved for their hard work and outstanding commitment over the past few years. It has been worth the efforts. Now we can continue to develop Berlin as a science hub backed by the hopefully continued strong support from the state of Berlin and continue and expand our excellent research."
Clusters of Excellence are interdisciplinary research projects focusing on a specific, future-oriented topic. The Clusters of Excellence that have now been approved will be funded to the tune of up to ten million euros per year per cluster as from January 1, 2026. The funding period is seven years, after which the clusters may apply for an additional funding period of seven years.
THE CHARITÉ CLUSTERS OF EXCELLENCE IN DETAIL:
ImmunoPreCept: preventing diseases instead of treating them
Where does health end and disease begin - and what happens in between? These are the central questions being explored by the newly funded ImmunoPreCept Cluster of Excellence. The research network is dedicated to uncovering the mechanisms that keep an organism healthy at cellular and molecular levels and to understanding and intercepting the onset of disease. With a particular focus on immune-driven, chronic inflammatory diseases - such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel diseases - and on cancer, the researchers aim to decode the biological mechanisms that maintain health or remission and to identify the triggers that disrupt these processes at the crossroad of health and disease. To achieve this, they are studying cellular signaling pathways - the communication within and between cells in tissue environments. In the long term, the goal is to develop individualized preventive treatments that can intercept diseases before the first symptoms emerge. Beyond advancing scientific excellence, ImmunoPreCept also seeks to raise public awareness of precision prevention and foster dialogue with stakeholders across society.
Name: Exploring the Health-Disease Bifurcation for Cell-based Molecular Prevention and Interceptive Medicine
Managing university: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Spokespersons: Prof. Britta Siegmund, Prof. Andreas Diefenbach (both Charité), Prof. Nikolaus Rajewsky (Max Delbrück Center)
Participating institutions: Freie Universität Berlin (with applicant institution), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (with applicant institution), Max Delbrück Center, Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH), German Rheumatology Research Center, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin
NeuroCure: From brain research to therapy
Since 2007, the NeuroCure Cluster of Excellence has been researching the causes of neurological and psychiatric diseases as well as the complex mechanisms of the healthy brain. The aim is to decode the functioning of the brain in order to better understand and treat diseases such as Alzheimer's, depression, epilepsy, Parkinson's, stroke and schizophrenia. The key focus is on translation - the direct course from basic research to the clinic. Accordingly, laboratory findings are quickly transferred to clinical studies so that patients are able to benefit from new diagnostic and treatment options at an early stage. Adaptive deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease is one key example in case, which was further developed by Cluster researchers. It can specifically influence brain activity in order to alleviate symptoms such as tremors or limited mobility. In the next funding phase, NeuroCure also aims to research innovative gene and cell therapies in which the body's own cells are modified in such a way that they can halt pathogenic immune reactions and remove harmful antibodies.
Name: Comprehensive approaches to neurological and psychiatric disorders - from mechanisms to interventions
Managing university: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Spokesperson: Prof. Dietmar Schmitz (Charité)
Deputy spokesperson: Prof. Andrea Kühn (Charité)
Participating institutions: Freie Universität Berlin (with applicant institution), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (with applicant institution), German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie, Max Delbrück Center, Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens, Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH)
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Logo Exzellenzcluster NeuroCure © Charité67 KB
Presse release of the Berln University Alliance (BUA)
NeuroCure Cluster of Excellence
Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments
Markus Heggen
Press spokesperson
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
T: +49 30 450 570 400