Lara Schlaffke

PD Dr. Lara Schlaffke is a senior researcher at the Ruhr University Bochum's Medical Faculty, leading the Neuroimaging Working Group at Bergmannsheil University Hospital. Her career bridges neuroscience and clinical neurology through advanced MRI techniques.

• Habilitation in Experimental Neurology (2022)
• Head of Quantitative Muscle Imaging Group (2020–present)
• Postdoctoral research at University Medical Center Utrecht (2016–2018)

Her research focuses on quantitative MRI biomarkers for rare neuromuscular diseases, leveraging translational models to link imaging with histology. Key areas include non-invasive disease monitoring, treatment evaluation (e.g., gene therapies), and diagnosis facilitation through

• Muscle microstructure analysis
• Disease progression dynamics
• DTI/vBm for brain-muscle interaction

Recent publications (2013–2024) demonstrate expertise in Neuroimaging, with 2024 works covering optoacoustic imaging in Pompe disease and 2023 articles on post-COVID-19 muscle abnormalities. Earlier studies explore brain plasticity in drummers (2020), multicenter MRI standardization (2019), and tactile learning mechanisms (2014).

Technical specializations include

• Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI)
• Voxel-Based Morphometry (VBM)
• Machine learning for MRI segmentation