Press release

07/28/2025

At its July meeting, the Board of the Einstein Foundation Berlin approved new funding totaling €9.6 million. Of this amount, €6 million over six years will support the establishment of the new Einstein Center for Youth Mental Health, dedicated to addressing severe mental illnesses in young people. Additionally, three joint research projects between Berlin universities and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) will receive funding. A Postdoctoral Grant will support research into alternative forms of economic planning. Two Einstein Visiting Fellowships and one Einstein Circle focused on cancer therapy round out the current funding portfolio.

Einstein Center

Support for Young People with Mental Illness
Mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and borderline personality disorder remain difficult to treat despite decades of research. They present both individual and societal challenges. The root causes of these conditions are often unclear, and access to appropriate treatment is frequently inadequate. First symptoms typically appear between the ages of 12 and 25—crucial years for social, academic, and professional development. The newly established Einstein Center for Youth Mental Health (ECYM) will investigate ways to improve care and explore new methods for early detection of mental illness. Seven Berlin institutions—Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin (FU Berlin), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU Berlin), Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin), Vivantes, the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, and the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt—will work together to better identify, understand, and treat mental illness in this age group. A major longitudinal study will track around 950 adolescents, both with and without elevated risk, over four years. Advanced brain imaging, digital assessments, and AI-based analyses will be used to identify risk factors and early warning signs. New therapies and care models will also be developed and tested. Young people with lived experience of mental illness will be actively involved in the research.

Einstein Berlin/HUJI Research Projects

The Role of Soils and Waterways in the Climate System
Organic carbon in soils and sediments plays a critical role in the global carbon cycle and, by extension, the Earth’s climate system. One important carbon store is mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM). How MAOM transitions into aquatic systems such as rivers, lakes, and oceans remains under-researched, yet it significantly affects long-term carbon storage or release. The research project, led by Prof. Mina Bizic (TU Berlin, Environmental Microbiomics) and Asst. Prof. Maya Engel (HUJI, Soil and Water Sciences), will systematically study how MAOM behaves under varying conditions—using lab experiments, fieldwork, and analysis of natural samples. This interdisciplinary project combines microbiology, soil science, and geochemistry to better understand whether MAOM in aquatic systems acts as a carbon sink or source—a vital question for climate science.

New Strategies Against Bacterial Infections
Why do certain pathogens infect only specific tissues, cell types, or species? This phenomenon, known as tropism, is still poorly understood for many human-specific bacteria. The project will explore this using enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC), which can cause life-threatening intestinal infections in young children. Led by Prof. Sina Bartfeld (TU Berlin, Medical Biotechnology) and Prof. Ilan Rosenshine (HUJI, Bacteriology), the team will identify both bacterial and human factors that enable EPEC to infect the human gut. Using human intestinal organoids and advanced bacterial genetics, the researchers aim to decipher the complex host-pathogen interactions. The findings may lead to a deeper understanding of EPEC infections and help develop new models for studying other gut pathogens.

The Role of the Midbrain in Navigation and Decision-Making
A key task of the brain is to allow organisms to orient themselves flexibly in their environment. Navigation involves decisions about when, how, where, or whether to move, and requires a sense of one’s own position. While it is known that various brain areas are involved, the Superior Colliculus in the midbrain has remained underexplored. The research team—Prof. Matthew Larkum (HU Berlin, Biology) and Asst. Prof. Ariel Gilad (HUJI, Medical Neurobiology)—hypothesize that feedback from the Superior Colliculus is critical for movement selection and prediction. Their project builds on the Berlin-based concept of circular feedback loops in the brain, stemming from the work of Dr. Livia de Hoz (Charité). The goal is to better understand the neural mechanisms that guide navigation and goal-directed behavior in everyday life.

Einstein Postdoctoral Grant

With his project "Heterodox Planning," Christoph Sorg (HU Berlin) aims to investigate alternative forms of economic planning that promote participation, social inclusion, and sustainability. In times of crisis—when confidence in so-called free markets erodes—such approaches are gaining renewed attention. The research focuses on two case studies: Community Wealth Building, which strengthens local communities economically, and platform cooperatives, as democratic alternatives to conventional platform companies. The study will examine who plans, what is planned, how participation works, and how central control and local self-governance interact. It will also look at what strategies can support social transformation.

Einstein Visiting Fellows

For a long time, sleep was believed to be essential for memory formation. However, recent research shows that the brain can also process and store new information while awake—albeit via different mechanisms. Prof. Lucy Palmer (Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Australia) will study how memories are consolidated in both sleep and wake states. In collaboration with the NeuroCure Cluster of Excellence and host Prof. Matthew Larkum (HU Berlin), Palmer will examine how memory mechanisms differ between states, and whether the hippocampus plays opposing roles depending on state. Using in vivo imaging and optogenetics in animal models, the team will analyze and influence brain activity. The aim is to understand how the brain flexibly integrates new information—and to inform treatment approaches for memory disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease or PTSD.

Prof. David McAlpine, Einstein Visiting Fellow and Professor of Auditory Neuroscience at Macquarie University (Australia), has received an extension of funding for his project, "Listen and Learn: The Adapting Auditory Brain." Working with Dr. Livia de Hoz and her lab at the Neuroscience Research Center of Charité, the team studies how people can effectively hear in diverse environments. Using modern measurement techniques, the researchers analyze brain activity in mice, especially in the midbrain and auditory cortex. The next phase will explore how behavior, sound predictability, and attention affect hearing. Findings will also be tested in neurodivergent individuals to understand how their auditory learning processes differ. The project seeks to deepen our understanding of how the brain learns patterns—especially auditory ones—and contribute to advances in hearing technologies.

Einstein Circle

Initiative on Vascular Biology and Tumor Interaction
Berlin is a leader in biomedical research, particularly in oncology, vascular biology, and immuno-oncology. Technologies like single-cell analysis and spatial imaging offer new insights into the interaction between blood vessels and tumors. The Einstein Circle “Spatial Biology in Cancer: Focus on Inflammation and Endothelial Cells in Bone Marrow”, led by Prof. Il-Kang Na (Charité & BIH), brings together top Berlin institutions—Charité, Max Delbrück Center, Leibniz Institute for Rheumatology Research, and FU Berlin—with international experts, including members of the European Society for Spatial Biology, co-founded by Prof. Anja Hauser, who also participates in the Circle. The goal is to initiate joint projects, share findings, and develop new therapeutic approaches. Regular "circle meetings" will be held to plan studies, discuss results, and coordinate funding applications. A major focus will be on securing third-party funding to support early-career researchers, including a Europe-wide graduate program to expand the Berlin School of Integrative Oncology. The overarching aim is to further establish Berlin as a center of excellence in cancer research and significantly improve treatment outcomes for patients.