Else Kröner Professorship for Translational Ophthalmology

PD Dr. med. Christian van Oterendorp will assume the Else Kröner Professorship for Translational Ophthalmology at the Department of Ophthalmology, University Medical Center Göttingen on May 1, 2026.

The new professorship, established by the Else Kröner Fresenius Foundation as part of its support for the Else Kröner Fresenius Center for Optogenetic Therapies (EKFT OT), is one of four such positions and aims to advance the planned clinical studies in Team II Optogenetic Vision Restoration (led by Prof. Dr. med. Hans Hoerauf and Prof. Dr. Emilie Macé) in the coming years. Optogenetics is a special form of gene therapy that can make cells light-sensitive through genetically expressed, light-activated proteins.

The goal: restoring vision through optogenetics

The most common cause of blindness in young and middle-aged adults is retinitis pigmentosa. In this condition, the light-sensitive photoreceptors in the retina gradually degenerate, leading to progressive vision loss and ultimately complete blindness. The research team led by Prof. Dr. med. Christian van Oterendorp, Prof. Dr. Emilie Macé, and Prof. Dr. Tim Gollisch aims to restore part of vision in these blind individuals, drawing on the combined expertise at the Göttingen Else Kröner Fresenius Center for Optogenetic Therapies. To achieve this, the retinal nerve cells that remain in this disease are made light-sensitive through optogenetic treatment, allowing them to partially take over the function of the lost photoreceptors.

In parallel, clinical studies are currently being conducted at the Department of Ophthalmology under the leadership of Prof. Dr. med. Christian van Oterendorp to better understand the degeneration processes in the diseased retina and to apply this novel treatment approach as precisely and effectively as possible. Another focus is the development of rehabilitation strategies so that treated patients can make the best possible use of their regained retinal light sensitivity in everyday life.

Short CV

Christian van Oterendorp studied human medicine in Freiburg im Breisgau. After clinical training at the University Eye Clinic Freiburg and Addenbrooke’s Hospital Cambridge (Great Britain), he has been a senior physician since 2014 and a leading senior physician specializing in glaucoma at the University Eye Clinic Göttingen since 2023. His research focuses on survival and degeneration processes of retinal ganglion cells and the 3D imaging of aqueous humor outflow.