Neuromuscular Research
In a translational approach involving basic scientists, bioengineers, and clinical experts the neuromuscular research group focuses on the understanding of certain pathophysiological mechanisms of neuromuscular diseases including the autonomic nervous system, the development of new methodologies for diagnosis and disease monitoring (“biomarkers”), as well as analyzing therapeutic effects of specific treatments. Combining molecular biology, histology, non-invasive imaging, and neurophysiological techniques with advanced artificial intelligence methodologies in humans, we aim at a thorough assessment of molecular, structural, and functional aspects of neuromuscular diseases.
We have ongoing research projects on the following neuromuscular diseases:
- Critical illness polyneuropathy and myopathy, Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathies (CIDP), autonomic neuropathies, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), Pompe’s disease, inflammatory myopathies, and muscular dystrophies.
- As our research involves rare diseases, we are a member of both national and international research initiatives such as: TREAT-NMD, European Reference Network for Neuromuscular Diseases (EURO-NMD), International Guillain-Barré-Outcome Study (IGOS), Inflammatory Neuropathy Consortium database (INCbase), MYO-MRI, Swiss-Pompe-Registry, and the Swiss Registry for Neuromuscular Diseases.
- Our research is funded by the Swiss Foundation for Research on Muscle Diseases (fsrmm: fondation suisse de recherche sur les maladies musculaires), the Gottfried & Julia Bangerter-Rhyner Stiftung, the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Inselspital and by the University of Bern.