Thomas Klockgether

Professor Thomas Klockgether is a leading researcher at the University of Bonn Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurology, focusing on spinocerebellar ataxias and movement disorders. His work bridges clinical neurology with advanced data-driven methodologies to improve understanding and treatment of neurodegenerative conditions.

His research spans five major interconnected areas:

• Digital assessment of movement disorders through tools like SARAhome, a video-based ataxia assessment system applied by patients at home
• Development of MRI biomarkers, including ultra-high field imaging and CerebNet (an AI-based cerebellum segmentation method)
• Patient-reported outcomes via the PROFA project's e-health app collecting real-time health economic and psychosocial data
• Data-driven staging models for SCA3 that identify pre-symptomatic biomarker changes occurring more than 10 years before ataxia onset
• Natural history studies of sporadic ataxias through the SPORTAX registry with over 500 participants

Professor Klockgether leads multiple international research initiatives including the JPND-funded SCAIFIELD and ESMI projects, and the EJP RD-funded PROFA project. His groundbreaking work demonstrating that brain and spinal cord tissue loss begins more than a decade before symptom onset in SCA3 mutation carriers has significant implications for preventive therapeutic interventions. His research program aims to establish objective digital and imaging biomarkers that can serve as endpoints in future clinical trials for ataxia treatments.

His laboratory develops innovative approaches to overcome limitations of conventional clinical assessment scales, particularly through AI-based automatic scoring methods for gait and speech analysis. The SPORTAX registry provides critical data on differential progression patterns between multiple system atrophy (MSA) and sporadic adult-onset ataxia of unknown etiology (SAOA).