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The Lab of Retinal Cell Biology belongs to the Dept. of Ophthalmology, University Eye Hospital Zurich. Head of Department: Prof. Dr. Dr. Daniel Barthelmes

Although many patients worldwide suffer from aquired or inherited retinal degenerations, successful therapies are still highly needed for the treatment of blinding diseases like age related macular degeneration (AMD) or Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). The diversity of the stimuli (endogenous and exogenous) and the heterogeneity of phenotypes makes the design of treatment strategies difficult. The main reason for the lack of effective therapies, however, may be our incomplete understanding of the molecular events leading to retinal cell death and hence to the impairment of vision.

Our work focuses on the elucidation of the biochemical events and molecular signaling cascades that lead to retinal degeneration and execute cell death. The goal is to understand the pathways induced by the diverse stimuli and to develop gene therapy and neuroprotection based strategies that may ultimately lead to the rescue of vision in patients.