Michael Sommerauer, MD

• Advanced Parkinson’s therapies
• RBD

As a clinician scientist, my work focuses on the early detection and prevention of Parkinson’s disease, with a particular emphasis on REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) as a prodromal marker. My research combines multimodal imaging approaches – including neuromelanin-sensitive MRI and noradrenaline transporter PET – with quantitative sleep analysis, detailed motor and cognitive phenotyping, and non-pharmacological intervention trials.
I demonstrated that the presence of RBD accelerates motor deterioration in Parkinson’s disease and used neuromelanin MRI of the locus coeruleus together with noradrenergic PET imaging to show that RBD is associated with progressive noradrenergic degeneration and ultimately cognitive decline. Furthermore, I extended the concept of axonal pathology occurring independently of neuronal loss (the “dying-back” model) to the noradrenergic system in Parkinson’s disease. As part of Per Borghammer’s group, I also contributed to mapping neurotransmitter system perturbations in isolated RBD and de novo Parkinson’s disease within the brain-first versus body-first framework.
Over recent years, I have established one of Germany’s largest cohorts of patients with isolated RBD, comprising more than 150 polysomnography-confirmed individuals. The cohort’s biomaterial and clinical data have supported a broad range of local, national, and international research projects involving biochemical markers, genetics, neuroimaging, and longitudinal follow-up. Building on this cohort, I investigate non-pharmacological interventions as potential disease-modifying strategies in the prodromal phase of Parkinson’s disease. This includes cognitive training (as Co-PI of the CogTrail-RBD study) and increased physical activity (as coordinator of the ERA4Health-funded ALPHA-FIT consortium).
To advance early detection, I am developing an “early PD motor fingerprint” as a universal identifier for prodromal Parkinson’s disease within my ERC Consolidator Grant Re-Start PD. A tablet-based application originating from this project is currently being prepared for translation with the support of dedicated technology-transfer funding.