Mission

Mission

About Us

Ziel des neuen fachübergreifenden Forschungszentrums ist es, das große Potenzial der Optogenetik – die Steuerung der zellulären Aktivität mit Licht mittels lichtempfindlicher Proteine (Opsine) – für die klinische Medizin nutzbar zu machen. Unter der Leitung von Prof. Dr. Tobias Moser, Direktor des Instituts für Auditorische Neurowissenschaften der UMG, konzentriert sich das Zentrum seit April 2024 auf die Erforschung von vier neuen Therapieansätzen zu Taubheit, Blindheit, Magenlähmung und motorischen Defiziten. Es sollen optogenetische Cochlea-Implantate, optogenetische Therapie zur Visuswiederherstellung, Magenschrittmacher und Gehirn-Computer-Schnittstellen entstehen, die zukünftig bei Patientinnen und Patienten zum Einsatz kommen.

Weitere Information

Development

Specifically, the EKFZ for Optogenetic Therapies aims to develop and implement four therapeutic approaches:
Team I: Optogenetic Hearing Restoration
Team II: Optogenetic Vision Restoration
Team III: Optogenetic Gastric Pacemaking
Team IV: Optogenetic Brain Computer Interfaces
With their expertise and the support of the five platforms, these teams aim to develop therapeutic options for patients suffering from deafness, blindness, gastroparesis, and motor deficits. This includes the development of optogenetic cochlear implants and optogenetic tools for retinal stimulation, gastric pacemakers, and brain-computer interfaces.

For all EKFZ for Optogenetic Therapies
Prof. Dr. Tobias Moser (Spokesperson)

Prof. Dr. Emilie Macé (Deputy Spokesperson)

Prof. Dr. Dr. Tobias Brügmann (Deputy Spokesperson)

Implementation

The new optogenetic therapy procedure aims to develop an innovative method and bring it into clinical application within the next ten years.

Film about the Else Kröner Fresenius Center for Optogenetic Therapies (© EKFS)

Audiovisual Art Project Lets You Experience

“Hearing with Light”

Göttingen researchers, under the leadership of the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), have collaborated with audiologists and artists from film and music to translate the sound experience of an optogenetic cochlear implant into image and sound. The music video artistically conveys the restoration of “hearing with light”, a technology that promises an improved hearing experience compared to classical cochlear implants.

The award-winning video artist Boris Seewald directed the video, while the internationally renowned composer Ralf Hildenbeutel is responsible for the music. Together, they created a work that combines research, technology, and emotion in an intense visual and auditory experience. The video is hand-animated and comprises about 2,500 individual images. You can find a making-of under News & Events.

Über uns

The Else Kröner Fresenius Center for Optogenetic Therapies (EKFZ) uses light to explore new paths in medicine. The goal is to make optogenetic methods – the targeted control of cells through light – usable for clinical application. Since April 2024, interdisciplinary teams led by Prof. Dr. Tobias Moser have been researching four innovative therapeutic approaches for deafness, blindness, gastroparesis, and motor deficits.

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