All subjects will be interviewed and administered a brief questionnaire to determine current disease severity. A brief neurological examination will be given to determine reflexes. Subjects will also have magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)scans of the cervical spine (neck). Women of child-bearing potential will need to have a urine pregnancy test immediately prior to the MRI scan. Mri scan will take approximately 60 minutes to complete. The clinical examinations will take approximately 30 minutes to complete. Subject participation in this study will be complete following the MRI and clinical examinations.

Subjects will also have magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the cervical spine(neck). Women of child-bearing potential will need to have a urine pregnancy test immediately prior to the MRI scan. Mri scan will take approximately 60 minutes to complete. Subject participation in this study will be complete following the MRI.

Subjects will have magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)scans of the cervical spine(neck). This involves lying on a table and sliding into a scanner consisting of a large magnet. This will take approximately one hour to complete. All subjects will be instructed to remove all jewelry and other metal-containing objects for the scan. During the MRI scan loud noises may be heard. Subjects may have a soft brace for the neck for positioning purposes.

1. Study investigators will measure the differences in the spinal cord metabolite, N-acetylaspartate in ALS subjects compared to healthy controls using magnetic spectroscopy.

Study fractional anisotropy levels (unitless) using diffusion tensor imaging in ALS patients compared to healthy controls in the cervical spinal cord.