Video portrait Hector Fellow Eberhart Zrenner

Enable blind people to see again — Retinal Implants with integrated Micro­elec­trodes make it possible

Enable blind people to see again is the aim of Eberhart Zrenner’s research. His approach is to replace destroyed photore­cep­tors by highly efficient electrodes in retinal implants. Highly sensi­tive micro­elec­tron­ics are neces­sary to be able to trans­fer the multi­tude of differ­ent light stimuli into electri­cal impulses and to increase spatial resolution.

Zrenner is a globally renowned expert in the field of degen­er­a­tive retinal diseases.

Eberhart Zrenner is senior profes­sor of ophthal­mol­ogy at the Werner Reichardt Centre for Integra­tive Neuro­sciences and found­ing direc­tor of the Research Insti­tute of Ophthal­mol­ogy at the Eberhart Karls Univer­sity of Tübin­gen. He received numer­ous awards for his achieve­ments in cause research and therapy concepts, in partic­u­lar in the devel­op­ment of electronic subreti­nal retinal implants for the recon­struc­tion of visual performance.

As a member of the Hector Fellow Academy, an academy focus­ing on STEM-research, Eberhard Zrenner conducts inter­dis­ci­pli­nary research on the CarboChip together with three other Hector Fellows, Manfred Kappes, Karl Leo and Martin Wegener and their postdoc­toral fellows.