New Collaborative Research Center Approved: Better Predicting the Course of Diseases Such as Depression or Dementia and Developing New Therapeutic Approaches

Better predicting disease progression and developing new therapeutic approaches based on the manipulation of cellular networks—that is the goal of the Collaborative Research Center (SFB)/Transregional Research Network (TRR) 460 “Dynamics of Immunological, Glial, and Neuronal Network Interaction,” approved by the German Research Foundation (DFG) on May 15, 2026. The SFB/TRR is jointly proposed by two or three universities and facilitates close collaboration between the universities and researchers, as well as the shared use of available resources.

At the heart of SFB/TRR 460 is the question of how immune cells, glial cells, and nerve cells network within the brain and how cell networks change in the context of disease. The clinical researchers are particularly investigating neurological and psychiatric disorders such as multiple sclerosis, depression, and other neuropsychiatric conditions like dementia. Another goal is to determine how the human brain can remain resilient to pathological changes for as long as possible and whether inter-individual differences can be traced at the network level. The research thus makes an important contribution to resilience research by investigating how immune, glial, and nerve cells collectively influence the brain’s resilience to stress, inflammation, and disease. A better understanding of these network dynamics is expected to help decipher the brain’s protective mechanisms and develop new approaches to the prevention and treatment of neurological and mental illnesses.

Contrary to the long-held assumption that the blood-brain barrier shields the brain from the immune system and thus protects the nervous system from inflammation, joint research to date from Mainz and Münster shows that immune cells interact closely with nerve cells and glial cells—including in the supply of nutrients or the transmission of signals. Using state-of-the-art analytical methods, including multi-omics analyses that simultaneously examine various molecular levels of an organism, single-cell sequencing, and high-resolution imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG), the new SFB is investigating—using data from patients, in artificial test-tube environments, in animal models, and through computer-aided modeling—how cell networks control healthy brain functions and what changes drive disease processes.

The co-spokesperson for SFB/TRR 460 is Prof. Dr. Stefan Bittner, senior physician at the Department of Neurology at Mainz University Medical Center. The co-spokespersons are Prof. Dr. Frauke Zipp, Director of the Department of Neurology at Mainz University Medical Center, and Prof. Dr. Sven Meuth from the University Hospital Münster. Additionally, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, the University of Cologne, and the Jülich Research Center are participating. With the participation of Prof. Dr. Janina Hesse from the Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research (LIR), Prof. Dr. Marianne Müller from the University Medical Center Mainz, and Prof. Dr. Albrecht Stroh from the University Hospital Münster, a total of three research group leaders affiliated with the LIR are involved.

The DFG is funding the project with more than 12 million euros.

Read the full press release from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz here.

Read the full press release from the German Research Foundation (DFG) here.