The HIH will collaborate with the Paris Brain Institute (ICM) in Paris with a joint project to investigate biomarker changes in neurodegenerative diseases. Prof. Dr. Mathias Jucker (HIH), Dr. Marie-Claude Potier (ICM) and Prof. Dr. Kaj Blennow (visiting professor at the ICM) and their research teams are involved in the collaboration.

“The two scientific studies of the project are designed in such a way that they use the location advantages of the respective institute and research groups and complement each other,” explains Jucker. The research focus lies on the analysis of biomarkers in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. The studies are carried out as part of doctoral theses in which the PhD students spend around six months at the partner institution to further strengthen the exchange between the groups.

The collaboration rose against the backdrop of the Franco-German Future Dialogue “France and Germany in Europe” in 2019. Topics of the dialogue included the aging society, demographic change and the consequences for the individual, society and the healthcare system. Building on this, the Hertie Foundation has developed a project with the Frankfurt-based BHF BANK Foundation, its Paris-based sister foundation, the endowment fund ODDO BHF Agir pour demain and the Fondation Recherche Alzheimer (also Paris) to promote Franco-German scientific cooperation.

The doctoral theses at the HIH are funded by the Hertie Foundation and those at the ICM by the Recherche Fondation Alzheimer. The BHF BANK Foundation and the endowment fund ODDO BHF Agir pour demain will contribute funds for a jointly organized symposium on biomarkers at the end of the project period and support the intercultural exchange.

“I am delighted that our biomarker research at HIH is being recognized” Jucker emphasizes. “I hope that this cooperation with mutual exchange of PhD students will be just the beginning of an intensive collaboration between the two top institutes of clinical brain research in Tübingen and Paris.”