18 Mai 2026
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) is providing more than twelve million euros in funding for a new Collaborative Research Centre at Mainz University Medical Centre. The Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1) at Forschungszentrum Jülich is also involved. The focus of "Dynamics of Immunological, Glial and Neural Network Interaction" (SFB/TRR 460) is on how the networks of immune cells, glial cells and nerve cells interact with one another and how they change in the context of disease.
The participating researchers are investigating, in particular, neurological and (neuro)psychiatric disorders such as multiple sclerosis, depression and dementia. The findings are intended to help better predict disease progression and develop new therapeutic approaches based on influencing these cellular networks.
The INM-1 is contributing to the development of ConnectMap: a network map designed to integrate molecular, structural and functional data within a common spatial framework. Building on the Julich Brain Atlas, the high-resolution 3D model BigBrain, the digital research platform EBRAINS and the siibra tool suite, ConnectMap aims to bring together datasets generated across the entire consortium, including transcriptomics, MRI, DTI, fMRI, MEG and EEG.
The aim is to create a kind of multimodal 'map' of the brain through the integration of various data, showing how neuronal, glial and immunological networks interact across different scales - from cellular and molecular properties to large-scale connectivity and function in the healthy brain and in disease states.
The SFB/TRR 460 is led by researchers from Mainz University Medical Centre; its spokesperson is Prof. Dr Stefan Bittner, senior physician at the Department of Neurology. Other partners in the research network are the University of Münster, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and the University of Cologne.
Link to the DFG press release (in German)
