{"id":35092,"date":"2022-11-28T08:46:50","date_gmt":"2022-11-28T07:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/?p=35092"},"modified":"2022-11-28T08:46:50","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T07:46:50","slug":"dr-botond-roska-from-cello-to-optogenetics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/2022\/11\/dr-botond-roska-from-cello-to-optogenetics\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Botond Roska: from cello to optogenetics"},"content":{"rendered":"
What are the six basic ingredients that are essential for scientific discovery\u00a0<\/span>\u2013<\/span> this was the topic of a lecture by Dr. Botond Roska, Director of the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology (IOB) in Basel, Head of the Neurobiology Research Group at the Friedrich Miescher Medical Research Institute, Guest Professor and former student at Semmelweis University. The presentation was held at the Nagyv\u00e1rad t\u00e9r Theoretical Building (NET) as part of the Seminar Lecture Series of the Centre for Translational Medicine at Semmelweis University.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Dr. Botond Roska’s mother was a pianist and his father was a renowned electrical engineer, computer scientist, university professor. As a child he played the cello for many years and his very first “research” question was: can a bicycle be repaired while riding a bicycle?<\/p>\n

He graduated from E\u00f6tv\u00f6s Lor\u00e1nd University in 1995 with a degree in mathematics, and in the same year he also obtained a medical degree from Semmelweis University.<\/p>\n

He began his doctoral studies in the laboratory of Frank Werblin at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. His field of research was: electrophysiology of the mammalian retina. He received PhD degree in neurobiology at the University of California in 2022. Then he became a Harward Society Fellow in Genetics in 2002 at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School, USA.<\/p>\n

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He returned to Europe in 2005 and founded his first independent interdisciplinary group of scientists at the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel, working in the field of neuroscience, genetics and physiology with the focus on vision. The current research topic of his multinational research group is the complex examination of the visual system. His research has advanced the understanding of neuronal circuits in the retina, thalamus and cortex, and his group pioneered optogenetic therapy to restore vision to the blind. These novel genetic experiments to restore vision quickly became the focus of the scientific world\u2019s interest.<\/p>\n

In 2020 he won the K\u00f6rber European Science Prize <\/a>which is presented annually by the K\u00f6rber Foundation in Hamburg honoring outstanding scientists working in Europe for their promising research projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Dr. Botond Roska – 11th December 2014.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dr. Botond Roska\u2019s research is connected to the research work at Semmelweis University in several fields: since 2014, the Retina Laboratory at the University\u2019s Institute of Anatomy, Histology and Development under the leadership of Arnold Szab\u00f3 has a continuous and expanding collaboration with him. In 2021, the University\u2019s research project led by Dr. Roska has been granted a funding of 300 million HUF<\/a> in the framework of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office\u2019s Frontline \u2013 Research Excellence Programme. <\/span>The research project “Novel approaches to restore vision and to slow down vision loss” has three goals: to <\/span>restore colo<\/span>r vision in blind retinas, create smart optogenetic g<\/span>oggles<\/span>, and study the mechanism of ganglion cell death, which is the main cause of vision loss in\u00a0<\/span>case of\u00a0<\/span>glaucoma.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The six basic ingredients of scientific discovery \u2013 which he illustrated with one project of his own scientific life that took 20 years and is not yet finished \u2013 are the following:<\/p>\n