Portraits of inspiring women in translational medicine: Petra Ritter
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Brain simulation helps us understanding how our brain works – and developing personalized therapies for its diseases.

A human brain consists of 86 billion neurons and 150 trillion connections between them. It runs on as little energy as an LED light bulb. It would take 1,500 Google data centers (they only have 15) to simulate just one brain with molecular accuracy, costing 1 trillion dollar per year and consuming 600 terawatt hours.

Here at the Brain Simulation Section (part of Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin), we have been at the forefront of network-based brain simulation, computational neuroscience and its clinical application for more than 10 years.

In collaboration with other international research centers, we have developed a way to simulate a brain even on a laptop – with reduced complexity but feasible, sufficiently accurate, scalable and already used in practical clinical applications.

We work towards our vision of providing digital copies of a person’s brain to virtually plan and test personalized treatment of brain orders, e.g. Alzheimer’s, stroke, epilepsy or tumors.

Our team is growing fast and we would be happy to welcome you, e.g. as software developer, lab manager or research assistant! Check out our current job openings or send us your speculative application!

portrait photo

Brain Simulation Section is a research center of Charité Universitätsmedizin

Berlin Institute of Health @ Charité

Latest activities

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  • Summer Party

    Summer Lab Party '25

    August 5

    The Brain Simulation Lab celebrated the summer last Friday 01.08 with a small party and some beach volleyball! We had a great time together and wish everyone a great summer break.

  • Meet-the-Data @HealthResearch series - HDC - screenshot

    Meet-the-Data @HealthResearch - The EBRAINS Health Data Cloud Takeaways and Replay

    July 15

    Missed the latest Meet-the-Data @HealthResearch webinar? Catch up now with the full replay of Prof. Petra Ritter and Dr. Michael Schirner's insightful presentation on the EBRAINS Health Data Cloud, a cutting-edge platform advancing secure, GDPR-compli

  • Portrait of Patrik Bey

    Congratulations Patrik Bey on a successful PhD defense!

    June 17

    We congratulate our former lab member Patrik Bey on the successful defense of his PhD, "Ermöglichung Netzwerkbasierter Gehirnsimulationen für Patientenpopulationen mit Pathologien" on June 10th. Patrik now holds a position at UCL in London, UK. We wish

  • Brain City Berlin - Interview Petra 2025

    Dr. Petra Ritter interviewed by Brain City Berlin

    June 16

    Brain City Berlin recently interview Dr. Petra Ritter about the TEF-Health Project. The interview in German can be read here. You can find an English ver

Meet our team

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  • Prof. Dr. Petra Ritter at EBrains Summit 2025

    8

    Dec

    December 8–11, Brussels, Belgium

    Prof. Dr. Petra Ritter will be participating in the EBrains Summit 2025 on the panel, ['Medical data for enabling progress in healthcare in Europe and beyond'](https://summit2025.ebrains.eu/programme/medical-data-for-ena

  • 9th BigBrain Workshop

    28

    Oct

    October 28–29, Berlin, Germany & Online

    Join us for the 9th BigBrain Workshop to explore the latest advancements in high-resolution brain mapping, AI-driven tools, and brain simulation. Hosted by the Brain Simulation Section, we are excited to welcome you to this engaging and insightful Big

  • Berlin Neuroscience Meeting (BNM)

    16

    Oct

    October 16–17, Berlin, Germany

    We are pleased to announce that Professor Petra Ritter is co-chairing the 2025 Berlin Neuroscience Meeting.This year's edition of the BNM will again take place at the GLS Campus in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin

  • BrainModes Conference 2025

    8

    Oct

    October 8–10, Toronto, Canada

    Join the global computational neuroscience community at BrainModes 2025, October 8–10 in Toronto, Canada. This year’s event explores the frontiers of brain modeling, dynamics, and cognition—featuring a keynote talk by Prof. Petra Ritter. Don’t miss th

  • xTEF Conference

    1

    Oct

    October 1–2, Milan, Italy

    xTEF Conference is taking place in Milan, Italy on the 1st and 2nd of October 2025. Organised by AgrifoodTEF - coordinated by FBK - , the event marks the half-project execution milestone of the four

  • Bernstein Conference 2025 - Satellite Workshop

    29

    Sep

    September 29 – October 2, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Join the global computational neuroscience community at the Bernstein Conference 2025, September 29 to October 2 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. This annual event brings together scholars and researchers worldwide to explore groundbreaking discoveries,

  • Health Data Global Hybrid Summit Wales 2025

    24

    Sep

    September 24–26, Cardiff, Wales & Online

    Join us at the Health Data Global Hybrid Summit 2025 in Cardiff, Wales. Health Data Forum is a global civic platform advancing healthcare transformation through the ethical and innovative use of health data.

    Profes

  • AI 4 Science Conference

    22

    Sep

    September 22–26, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Join us at the AI 4 SCIENCE Conference in Ljubljana!

    Professor Petra Ritter will be participating in the panel 'AI Regulatory Sandboxes: Experiences and Practices' at 9am on 24.09.2025. This panel is part of the AI Sandboxes

  • Chips Ju Consultation Workshop

    12

    Sep

    September 12, Online

    Prof. Petra Ritter will be speaking on behalf of TEF at the Chips Ju Consultation Workshop on September 12, 2025.

    Chips JU is organising a consultation workshop

  • Join us at Meet-the-Data

    9

    Jul

    July 9, Berlin, Germany

    Petra Ritter and Michael Schirner will be holding a Meet-the-Data webinar on July 9th from 16:00 to 16:45 on "Secondary use of data via EBRAINS". For data holders, the series offers the opportu

  • CNS 2025 Florence

    5

    Jul

    July 5–9, Florence, Italy

    Join us at CNS 2025 in Florence, Italy. We will be contributing to two workshops:

    • [Brain Digital Twins: From Multiscale Modeling to Precision Medicine](https://cns2025florence.sched.com/event/1z9MP/brain-digital-tw

  • Berlin 6G Conference 2025

    1

    Jul

    July 1–3, Berlin, Germany

    Join us at the 2025 Berlin 6G Conference!

    This year marks the beginning of the actual 6G standardization process, with initial decisions being made about how 6G will serve as the backbone of our f

  • Dr. Petra Ritter at AI4Health Summer School

    30

    Jun

    June 30 – July 3, Paris, France

    Join us at the AI4Health Summer School in Paris, where Dr. Petra Ritter will be holding a keynote lecture. You can find out more about the exciting program here. The event is taking place both in person and on

  • GeneNovate Investors' Day

    27

    Jun

    June 27, Berlin, Germany

    Professor Petra Ritter is taking part in GeneNovate Investors' Day on June 27th. She will take part in a panel about personalized medi

  • OHBM 2025

    24

    Jun

    June 24–28, Brisbane, Australia

    We are excited to announce that we will be presenting several posters at this year's OHBM Annual Meeting.

    Are you dedicated to advancing the understanding of the anatomical and fu