The Research Training Group GRK 2318 “TJ-Train” began its work in October 2017 and offers an interdisciplinary, cohort-wise, doctoral program with 12 PhD and 12 MD doctoral researchers per 3 years cohort. “TJ-Train” is a joint program of the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin together with the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine Berlin, and the Leibniz-Institute for Molecular Pharmacology Berlin. Together, we will train a next generation of scientists in translational research by focussing on epithelial barrier research, and especially on the role of tight junction proteins. Participants will be equipped with the skills necessary to develop their research towards a broad basic understanding of physiology, pathophysiology, and clinical impacts, with the ultimate goal of opening new therapeutic concepts.

The Research Training Group analyzes different aspects of epithelial barrier junction and dysfunction. Three project areas cover (i) basic research on structure and function of tight junction (TJ) proteins, (ii) embryonic development of TJs and regulation of TJ properties, and (iii) modulation of TJs in barrier dysfunction caused by infectious and inflammatory intestinal diseases. The Research Training Group program aims to educate doctoral students in a multidisciplinary approach. Training includes a wide range of methods, e.g. modern molecular biological and electrophysiological techniques, biophysical and bioinformatics methods, super-resolution light microscopy, next generation sequencing. These techniques will be applied to the analysis of cell culture models, animal models and human biopsies. Doctoral students are encouraged to actively participate in the scientific community by presenting their ongoing research on national and international congresses and specific meetings of the Research Training Group.