Anatomy and physiology of the retina in health and disease (Frank Müller)

About

The retina is spart of the central nervous system. It harbours not only the photoreceptors but also a neuronal network that performs the first steps of information processing before retinal output neurons, the retinal ganglion cells, relay the signal to the brain. We investigate information processing in the healthy retina to understand this neuronal network, a simplified model of the CNS.

In the diseases Retinitis pigmentosa and age-dependent macula degeneration, photoreceptors degenerate while the retinal network including the ganglion cells persists. Electrical stimulation of these cells can trigger visual sensations in patients, however, sofar results are suboptimal. Together with engineers we aim at developing new retinal implant techniques. We investigate how a pathological activity in the degenerated retina interferes with the successful electrical stimulation. It is our aim to block this activity with pharmacological treatment to improve the performance of the implant. This would be a first step to an electro-pharmacological therapy of blindness.

Research Topics

Retina; neuronal information processing; retina degeneration; retina implant

Contact

Prof. Dr. Frank Müller

IBI-1

Building 15.21 / Room R 2036

+49 2461/61-3661

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Last Modified: 07.05.2025