The University Medical Centre Rostock is the main ALS centre in Mecklenburg offering primary diagnostics, secondary opinion, genetic testing, patient care and individualized therapy for all stages of ALS and other MNDs, including care in advanced stages, such as NIV/IV and nutrition. We have in-patent and outpatient clinics, caring for ~100 patients per year. Our expertise ranges from deep phenotyping of patients including cognitive and behavioural endophenotypes, (molecular) imaging and biomarker research to basic research on patient-derived cell models.

A main focus of the working group is the bidirectional translation between basic science and clinical patient work, including human patient-derived iPSC cultures, drug development, biomarker development (wet markers, MRI markers, PET markers and behavioural endophenotypes). Future direction will involve more and more work on healthy and diseased aging, including modes and mechanisms of disease conversions from prodromal stages or interventions to avoid secondary aging. We are part of the national (MND-NET, DZNE) and international registries (Precision-ALS). We take part in diverse clinical studies, including interventional and non-interventional prospective clinical trials.