The Institute for Neuroimmunology and Clinical Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Research is the result of a joint initiative by the ZMNH and the Department of Neurology, University Clinic Eppendorf (UKE). Its concept won a national competition for funding by the Gemeinnützige Hertie Stiftung. The newly founded Institute opened September 2006 and intends to bridge between the basic science environment at the ZMNH and disease-oriented clinical research. The plan is to to pursue clinical trials, investigate questions related to disease heterogeneity and biomarkers in MS, but will also provide patient care in the outpatient clinic, the MS day hospital and for inpatients.

Inims is intended to evolve rapidly into a center of excellence in both the areas of basic neuroimmunology and in clinical MS research. Besides interactions with other institutes and junior research groups at the ZMNH, inims collaborates with numerous clinics and institutes at the UKE, among them the Departments of Neurology, Neuroradiology, Neuropathology, Systemic Neurosciences, Neurophysiology, Pharmacology, the Section for Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation, the Institute for Transfusion Medicine and the Bernhard Nocht Institute.