MDC Lecture by Botond Roska: "The first steps of vision: cell types, circuits and repair"

The MDC Lecture „The first steps of vision: cell types, circuits and repair“ will be held by Botond Roska, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research.

Botond Roska's research is focused on how neurons interact in local neuronal networks to compute behaviourally relevant functions and how fundamental circuit motifs, relevant for computation, develop. His model system of choice is the mammalian retina and the visual cortex. Combining imaging, physiological, molecular, viral and computational approaches, he aims to define the structure and function of retinal and cortical circuits.

Botond Roska's group was recently able to restore some visual function in vivo in mouse models of retinal degeneration and in vitro in human retinal explant cultures, using circuit-specific targeting of a light-activated channel, channelrhodopsin-2, or the light-activated pump halorhodopsin. The goal is to advance this therapy for use in humans. Hosts: Carmen Birchmeier and James Poulet