👁🗨We turn science into sight.Congratulations to our Director, Botond Roska, on receiving the 2026 Future Vision Award alongside Connie Cepko & Daniel Ting.
🎬 Watch the short movies: futurevisionfound.org/2026-films
#Neuroscience #Vision #Retina #Ophthalmology #Blindness #ScienceInnovation #Eye
🚀A potential paradigm shift for diseases linked to mitochondrial dysfunction.
📄 Published in Nature: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#AcademicSky #MitoCatch #Mitochondria #CellBiology #Neurodegeneration #Blindness #PrecisionMedicine #BiomedicalResearch #ScienceCommunication #IOBBasel
✨Key findings: #MitoCatch delivers mitochondria to key cell types with higher efficiency. Transferred mitochondria remain functional and targeted cells’ survival is improved.
🔬 #MitoCatch uses engineered protein binders, like a cellular GPS, to guide mitochondria exactly where they are needed. Three complementary versions of #MitoCatch enable targeted delivery.
⚡ Mitochondria power our cells.
When they fail, diseases like optic nerve degeneration, Parkinson’s, or heart failure can follow. Getting healthy mitochondria to the right cells has been a major challenge.
Targeted mitochondrial delivery: Extracellular donor mitochondria are delivered specifically to neurons via bispecific protein binders.
💡What if we could reboot sick cells?
IOB scientists @timayupov.bsky.social, @vmorenojuan.bsky.social and collaborators led by Botond Roska have developed #MitoCatch, a system that delivers healthy mitochondria directly to diseased cells. A step toward precision mitochondrial medicine.
Pic©IOB
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🌍 This gives researchers worldwide a powerful starting point to develop therapies to preserve vision.
#AcademicBlueSky #VisionResearch #Ophthalmology #OpenScience #DrugDiscovery #Organoids #Retina #Neuroprotection
✨ The full dataset is openly available, including compounds, targets, and effects.
🔗 www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
💡 What they found:
• Some compounds harm vision cells, revealing safety risks early
• Several molecules protect cone photoreceptors
• Inhibiting casein kinase 1 is a key protective mechanism
🧪 A different approach: Using human retinal organoids, scientists tested thousands of compounds directly in human tissue.
🔬 The focus: cone photoreceptors. These cells allow us to read, recognize faces, and see colours. When they die, central vision is lost. Despite decades of research, there are still no therapies to stop this process.
3D retinal organoid, stained. © IOB, 2026
👁️ What keeps vision cells alive?
A new study just published in Neuron (S. Spirig, @alvaroherreronav.bsky.social
et al.) screened 2,700+ compounds across 20,000 lab grown human retinas to find out.
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A potential new approach to strengthen trust in digital evidence.
Published today in Nature Electronics
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#AcademicBlueSky #Deepfakes #DigitalTrust #AI #Science
🧠Developed by Felix Franke (IOB) with Fernando Cardes García from the Andreas Hierlmann Lab and collaborators at ETH Zurich.
🔐Why it matters: AI-generated content is becoming increasingly convincing and harder to detect.
💡 Instead of verifying data later, this chip signs it inside the sensor as it is recorded, creating creates a direct link between the data and the physical device.
🤖As deepfakes rise, a chip could bring back trust
A new sensor technology secures data at the moment it is captured, making manipulation detectable.
Image © Felix Franke, IOB, 2026, generated with AI
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👁️🗨️Restoring vision: Warm congratulations to our Director and Group Leader Botond Roska who has been awarded the 24th Perl-UNC Neuroscience Prize for developing approaches to decode retinal circuitry and restore vision.
#AcademicBlueSky #Neuroscience #Vision #Retina #Ophthalmology #Blindness
🧪 🧫 Photoreceptors depend on exquisitely organised cilia, with disruptions in microtubule regulation compromising retinal health. Beyond providing molecular diagnoses to affected families, this work deepens our understanding of ciliary biology, and highlights why fundamental research matters.
#Cilia
📏🔬In collaboration with @computingcaitie.bsky.social and @cellarchlab.com, SAXO6 localization was mapped along ciliary microtubules with direct links to α-tubulin, linking this structural protein class to human retinal disease for the first time.
👉 @ajhgnews.bsky.social
#Ophthalmology
🧬 New IRD gene identified!
IOB researchers (@abimoye.bsky.social, @mquinodoz.bsky.social, @carlorivolta.bsky.social) found pathogenic variants in SAXO6 (formerly MDM1) in families with a rare late-onset retinal degeneration.
🔗 www.cell.com/ajhg/fulltex...
#AcademicBlueSky
So what’s SAXO6 doing?
🧪 🧫 Photoreceptors depend on exquisitely organised cilia, with disruptions in microtubule regulation compromising retinal health. Beyond providing molecular diagnoses to affected families, this work deepens our understanding of ciliary biology, and highlights why fundamental research matters.
#Cilia
📏🔬In collaboration with @computingcaitie.bsky.social and @cellarchlab.com, SAXO6 localization was mapped along ciliary microtubules with direct links to α-tubulin, linking this structural protein class to human retinal disease for the first time.
👉 @ajhgnews.bsky.social
#Ophthalmology
🧬 New IRD gene identified!
IOB researchers (@abimoye.bsky.social, @mquinodoz.bsky.social, @carlorivolta.bsky.social) found pathogenic variants in SAXO6 (formerly MDM1) in families with a rare late-onset retinal degeneration.
🔗 www.cell.com/ajhg/fulltex...
#AcademicBlueSky
So what’s SAXO6 doing?
🧬 Major breakthrough: IOB researchers identify new genetic cause of inherited blindness in overlooked RNA genes. The discovery solves decades-old diagnostic mystery and opens new pathways for many patients worldwide.
➡️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#AcademicBlueSky #Genetics #VisionResearch #IRDs
🌟New hope for vision restoration: Congratulations to Bence György on his 5-year @erc.europa.eu Consolidator Grant. His proposal was selected among 3121 applications from across Europe - a strong vote of confidence in our work at IOB!
#ERCCoG #BaseEditing #VisionResearch #Blindness #AcademicBlueSky
🌟New hope for vision restoration: Warm congratulations to Bence György on his 5-year @erc.europa.eu Consolidator Grant to advance base editing for genetic macular degeneration and explore therapies for corneal blindness.
#ERCCoG #BaseEditing #VisionResearch #Blindness #AcademicBlueSky
🎉 Big congratulations to @karkam.bsky.social who has just been awarded the PRO RETINA Research Award 2025 for her latest paper in American Journal of Human Genetics!
#ResearchAward #AcademicBlueSky #Ophthalmology #MacularDystrophy #Lysosomes #RetinalDisease #VisionResearch #RareDiseases
🚨 CALL FOR APPLICATIONS 🚨
Looking for your next academic step?
Join our interdisciplinary IOB MD-PhD / PhD Program to explore the visual system and pioneer therapies for eye diseases.
⏰ Deadline: November 16, 2025 (midnight CET)
🔗 iob.ch/phd-md-phd-program
#IOB #Basel #PhDProgram #VisionScience
Can a blind retina be made sensitive to infrared light? Our team shows that an engineered human TRPV1 channel, delivered by AAV, elicits robust responses without foreign proteins or nanoparticles.
🔗 bit.ly/4gt0LO5
#AcademicBlueSky #ProteinEngineering #TRPChannels #SyntheticBiology #Vision #Retina
