Profile
- Teaching students of medicine, biomedicine, and biology as well as graduate students at the Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences (GCB 6 research groups Investigation of the pathophysiology and treatment of vitreoretinal diseases, glaucoma, neuro-ophthalmologic disorders, and external disease. Clinical research includes phase I-IV studies as well as the development of new imaging modalities for retinal diseases.
- The Bern Photographic Reading Center (BPRC) is an internationally renowned center for coordination and independent evaluation of images obtained in clinical multicenter trials.
- Research projects in cooperation with the Artificial Intelligence in Medical Imaging group at the ARTORG-Center explore new deep-learning approaches for image evaluation.
- The research groups involved in basic research use state-of-the-art molecular, cellular, and imaging techniques for in vitro, cell culture, ex vivo, and in vivo studies. Research projects in Experimental Ophthalmology focus on the potential of stem cells and progenitor cells in restoring visual function, in ocular immunology and the influence of the microbiome on inflammatory eye diseases, as well as on new avenues to treat them.
- The ophthalmogenetics group continuously strives to identify new phenotype-genotype correlations in inherited eye diseases by molecular diagnostics and to understand their impact on eye development.
External Partners
Dept. of Biology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland; Schepens Eye Research Institute/Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.; Dept. of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA; Hôpital Ophtalmique Jules-Gonin, Université de Lausanne, Switzerland; Lab for Retinal Cell Biology, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Augenklinik, Universitätsspital Basel, Switzerland; Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
Grants
- Stiftung OPOS: The interplay between interleukin-36γ and the ocular surface microbiota in dry eye disease
- Hans-Goldmann-Stiftung: Establishing cone- and rod-containing macula-like human retinal organoid system for comparative pathology modelling and functional evaluation
- Peter Heule Stiftung: Development of human retinal organoids for RP1- associated Retinitis pigmentosa
- Huber-Bieg Stiftung: Genetic analyses by inherited retinal diseases
- Retina Suisse: Development of human retinal organoids for researching the disease mechanisms of retinal dystrophies and for testing CRISPR-based therapeutic approaches
- Peter Major Gedächtnis Stiftung: AI-based classification of retinal features specific to inherited retinal disease from optical coherence tomography images
- Home-based Visual Field Monitoring
- Novel Vision Correction by Corneal Augmentation
- Non-fixation perimetry for retinal diseases
- Hans-Feller Stiftung: Complement dysregulation during RPE degeneration: mechanisms and therapeutic opportunities
- Hanela-Stiftung Aarau: Single cell RNA sequencing for investigating retinal degeneration / regeneration
- Vontobel Stiftung Zürich: Unlocking retinal regeneration: scRNA-seq insights from zebrafish and mouse
- Diabetic Foundation Award. ‘Functional and Molecular reprogramming of ipRGCs in Diabetic Retinopathy’
- Chan Zuckerberg Initiative – Collaborative Pilot Pair cycle2. ’Deciphering the impact of altered light perception on sleep regulation in AD’
- Velux Stiftung grant “Deciphering the non-circadian effects of light on sleep”
- Novartis ‘Functional and Molecular reprogramming of ipRGCs in Alzheimer’s disease’
- Schwickert Stiftung: Difference in morphology of the optic nerve head in high-pressure glaucoma and normal-pressure glaucoma
- Hans-Goldmann Foundation: Development of human retinal organoids
- Peter Heule Stiftung: Development of human retinal organoids for RP1-associated Retinitis pigmentosa
- Huber-Bieg Stiftung: Genetic analyses by inherited retinal diseases
- Swiss RetinAward: Regulation of photoreceptor fatty acid metabolism by PPARs
- Peter Major Gedächtnis Stiftung: AI-based classification of retinal features specific to inherited retinal disease from optical coherence tomography images
- Home-based Visual Field Monitoring
