Junior researcher investigates the restoration of vision
Karin Tilch Neuroscientist Patrick Jendritza wants to develop a new method for treating blindness by genetically modifying nerve cells in the brain so that they can be controlled with light. This process, also known as optogenetics, enables the targeted stimulation of specific areas in the visual cortex, the region of the brain responsible for processing visual information. The research work of the working group based at the Else Kröner Fresenius Center for Optogenetic Therapies (EKFZ-OT) is being carried out at the German Primate Center – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research (DPZ) in Göttingen. The DPZ offers the optimal infrastructure for conducting animal studies on marmosets, which are a prerequisite for translating this complex project into clinical studies on patients in the long term.
“I am delighted about the funding, which will enable me and my team to conduct even more detailed research into how visual information is processed in the brain. If we can understand in detail how information processing and network collaboration work in the brain, we will be able to develop new techniques to restore vision and treat blindness.”
About the person
Patrick Jendritza, born in Augsburg in 1987, studied biosciences at Heidelberg University from 2011 to 2014 and earned his doctorate in 2022 at the International Max Planck Research School for Neural Circuits at the Ernst Strüngmann Institute for Neuroscience in Frankfurt am Main with a thesis on “Neural recordings and optogenetics in the visual cortex of the marmoset.” From April 2022 to December 2025, he continued his research as a postdoctoral fellow at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, USA, where he focused on investigating the development of visual and spatial perception in the visual cortex of marmosets. He used state-of-the-art methods, such as the latest generation of high-resolution microelectrodes. These tiny probes are thinner than a human hair and are inserted into the brain to very precisely record the activity of a large number of neurons. This allows researchers to investigate how groups of nerve cells communicate with each other to process information and how their activity is embedded in larger network processes in the brain. A particular focus of Dr. Jendritza's work has been on method development, especially the application of optogenetics to specifically stimulate neural networks with light and understand their contribution to perception.
About the Else Kröner Fresenius Center for Optogenetic Therapies
The Else Kröner Fresenius Center for Optogenetic Therapies (EKFZ-OT) uses light to break new ground in medicine. The aim is to make optogenetic methods—the targeted control of cells using light—usable for clinical applications. Since April 2024, interdisciplinary teams led by Tobias Moser, spokesperson for the EKFZ-OT and director of the Institute for Auditory Neuroscience at Göttingen University Medical Center (UMG), have been researching four innovative therapeutic approaches for deafness, blindness, gastroparesis, and motor deficits. A total of four teams are working on different areas of focus at the EKFZ-OT: Team I – Better hearing with light, Team II – Using light to combat vision loss, Team III – New hope for gastric paralysis, Team IV – Seeing and moving with light. Team IV, led by Marcus Jeschke and Hansjörg Scherberger, is developing optogenetic brain-computer interfaces. Patrick Jendritza's work at the EKFZ will contribute significantly to these developments.
