Professorship in “Predicting and identifying molecular determinants of health-disease transitions”

Charité – University Medical Center Berlin (Charité) is one of the largest university hospitals in Europe. Here, doctors and scientists conduct research, treat patients, and teach at the highest international level. Charité is the joint medical faculty of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and is recognized worldwide as an excellent educational institution. Charité is spread across a total of four locations with around 100 clinics and institutes, which are grouped into 17 CharitéCentres.

The Cluster of Excellence ImmunoPreCept (EXC 3118) is coordinated by the Charité in strategic partnership with the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC). The scientific vision of ImmunoPreCept is to understand how tissue-immune networks establish and maintain organismal and tissue health on a molecular and cellular level, and how perturbations of these networks drive transition from health to disease. A central goal is to identify the earliest cellular and molecular changes that signal disease and to intercept pathological processes before symptoms occur. Research focuses on chronic inflammatory and immune-mediated diseases, such as inflammatory bowel diseases, rheumatological diseases, and cancer, where prevention and early intervention can have a transformative impact. Through the integration of state-of-the-art single-cell and spatial technologies with AI-driven approaches, ImmunoPreCept will establish a new framework for understanding, predicting, and intercepting disease before clinical manifestation.

Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin invites appilications within the framework of the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoPreCept (EXC 3118) for the following professorship (salary grade W2 under the BBesG ÜfBE - limited to 5 years)

Professorship in “Predicting and identifying molecular determinants of health-disease transitions”

(Reference number: Prof. 693/2026)

Based on a positive evaluation, the professorship can be extended for another five years or will be tenured. The relevant performance criteria will be established as part of the appointment process.

About the position

The W2 Professorship will be embedded within the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoPreCept and will form a central element of its interdisciplinary and translational research program. All groups will be affiliated with Charité and/or one of the partner institutions (MDC, German Rheumatology Research Center, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Freie Universität Berlin), depending on scientific fit, thereby enabling access to laboratories across the participating institutions as well as cutting-edge technological and computational platforms.

The successful candidate will receive a fixed-term W2 professorship position, a competitive start-up package including personnel and research funds, as well as additional funding opportunities through ImmunoPreCept’s research and training programs. They will benefit from close integration into ImmunoPreCept’s basic and clinical research programs and longitudinal patient cohorts, structured mentoring and leadership support, and excellent opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration across the Berlin life science ecosystem.

We are looking for

We invite applications from outstanding scientists with a strong track record in innovative areas of immunology and biomedical research, including immune-tissue and immune-stem cell interactions, immunometabolism, neuro-immune interactions, disease resilience and health-disease transition, systems immunology, AI and machine learning for disease interception, as well as technology development and its application to molecular medicine. We are particularly interested in candidates who.

• investigate immune-mediated mechanisms of tissue homeostasis, disease resilience, disease initiation, progression, and therapeutic responses,
• aim to enable early diagnosis, risk prediction, and disease interception through innovative methodological approaches,
• develop or apply novel experimental, computational, or integrative technologies (e.g. single-cell and spatial omics, AI-driven approaches).

Applicants must demonstrate through their previous scientific work that they meet the above expectations for the W2 professorships, that they will further develop the scientific activities in the field of immunology and biomedical research in terms of content and structure, and complement the existing research activities in these areas within the framework of the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoPreCept at Charité and its strategic partners.

Formal employment requirements to § 100 BerlHG are:

• successfully completed a university degree in human medicine, natural or life sciences, or a comparable university degree
• successfully completed doctoral degree (Ph.D. and/or M.D.)
• in addition, a professorship or junior professorship or postdoctoral qualification (habilitation) or equivalent academic achievements are required

Complete job description as well as submission of the written application in English only by Friday, October 23, 2026, at:

https://career.charite.de