Meet the centre: Charles University Hospital

In 2024, Charles University, located in Prague, Czech Republic, joined the TRICALS consortium. During the TRICALS Masterclass in February of 2025 we spoke with Lenka Slachtova, head of the ALS Research Group at First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and General Faculty Hospital in Prague. In this “Meet the Centre” feature, we introduce you to their work and contributions to ALS research.

Introduction

Lenka Slachtova is leader of the ALS Research Group at Charles University and is also co-founder of the ALS Association of the Czech Republic. As a neurogeneticist by training and researcher, she focuses on genetics and epidemiology of ALS. The centre partnered up with TRICALS in 2024, Lenka says. “We stepped into TRICALS as the first and only centre in the Czech Republic.” With a population of around 10 million people, the Czech Republic has several neuromuscular centres in the country. “As MND research lab, we’re collaborating with five of them at the moment. We created a collaborative network to study the population-specific characteristics and genetic epidemiology of ALS in the Czech Republic. Our aim is to establish a system that had not previously existed here, there had been no such nationwide effort or structured data available before. Thanks to the collaborative power that we created with clinicians and researchers, we were able to generate population-level data that had never been collected in this context in the Czech Republic. We aim to lay the foundation for a new understanding of ALS epidemiology for our country.”

Starting the ALS research group

The centre has been working on ALS diagnosis since around 2021, and together with General Faculty Hospital in Prague and other neuromuscular centers oversees around 50 new patients per year, in total the centre oversees around 100 patients per year. “I would say the number of patients grew gradually, such as our team and our expertise. Although we’ve only been doing research since 2021, we accomplished a lot in a short time. Although our group is relatively young, we are already operating at the forefront of genomic research and bioinformatics. We work with cutting-edge technologies, including whole genome and whole exome sequencing. My background is in genomics and biochemistry, but since my father was diagnosed with ALS, I got more interested in combining my background in genomics to understand ALS and support ALS Research. I had my PhD in biochemistry and genetics of rare diseases, but after that, I started my own ALS research group here. Contributing to ALS research is what I pretty much always have wanted to do, we still don’t have a cure,” she continues.

Breadcrumbs

The most interesting part about research for her is the fact that it gives you small signs that you can follow. “The interesting thing about it is that you have a project designed that’s giving you completely new data. The data will navigate you to another idea to explore, which is probably typical not only for ALS research. And then you look backwards, which makes you realize how to improve the methods and approaches along the way, and what to focus on. It will give you hints and clues where else to go.”

There always was a small number of ALS clinical trials in the Czech Republic, she continues, but quite a few of them in multiple sclerosis or other diseases. “Currently there is no clinical trial in the whole Czech Republic, and we would like to change that. I think since we are gaining and publishing more and more data, it will become more obvious that the infrastructure is prepared and ready to support clinical trials to come. We are open to new opportunities and actively seek for new collaborations. Together with patients, we are doing as much as we can to set up the environment to invite the representative to run clinical trials. That’s why our team is proactively creating the right conditions by working closely with patients, clinicians, and researchers to build a research environment that invites clinical trial partners. We’re laying the groundwork to make our country a competitive player in ALS research.”

Proud

“What makes me proud is the collaborative effort –  we started the first ALS biobank in our country and we collected 400 samples in only five plus years,” Lenka tells with some pride. She is ambitious about the future. “I would consider it a big accomplishment and a promising step to see more clinical trials in our country, and I am proud of our team because without them I couldn’t do that much.”

The future

When she starts talking about the future, the ambition comes forward. “We would like to get involved more into the biomarkers, and population specifics of ALS. We want to have a balanced data set for the future clinical trial applications. There are some specific mutations that are more prevalent in specific geographical regions. For example, what we see is that we have some mutations in a neighboring country such as Germany, but we don’t see that mutation for example in France or Scandinavia. That’s very important because it gives us a better perspective on the population-specific characteristics of ALS, and we aim to improve the research by illustrating a Central-European perspective.”

Tool of success

That’s the real key to successful research, building something sustainable and making sure it keeps moving forward. We’ve laid the foundation, but long-term commitment is essential if we want to generate high-quality, meaningful data. The ultimate goal is shared by the entire ALS community: to discover solutions that can truly make a difference for more patients.  We have a small light on the way, in the perspective of SOD1, right? It’s like we’ve lit a small candle on the path, now we’re working toward lighting many more. The only thing we want is more candle lights to see bright days.”