Prof. Dr. Botond Roska, one of the founders of BrainVisionCenter, performs his research activities as a member of the Strategic Scientific and Advisory Board and the Project Steering Committee.

He holds a medical degree from Semmelweis University, Budapest. He received his PhD in neurobiology from the University of California, Berkeley, and was a research fellow at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School in the United States.

In 2005, he joined the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel, where he leads an interdisciplinary group in neuroscience, genetics and physiology with a focus on vision. His research has led to significant advances in our understanding of neuronal networks in the retina, thalamus and cortex. His group pioneered optogenetic therapy to restore vision in blind people.

During his time in Hungary, he also studied mathematics and playing the cello. To this day he enjoys solving mathematical proofs and plays the cello when time permits.

Prof. Dr. Botond Roska is the author of more than 83 articles and reviews in scientific journals. He serves on numerous scientific advisory and editorial boards. Since 2022, he has been an external member of the Department of Biological Sciences of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
The outstanding quality of Prof. Dr. Botond Roska’s knowledge and work is also marked by a series of prestigious awards and recognitions:

2024
Wolf Prize

2020
ERC Advanced grant
Körber European Science Prize
Member of Academia Europaea
Sanford and Susan Greenberg End Blindness Visionary Prize

2019
Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine
Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary
Cloëtta Prize
Semmelweis Budapest Award
Louis Braille Medall

2018
Bressler Prize in Vision Science, New York
Alden W. Spencer Award for Neuroscience

2016
Cogan Award of ARVO

2015
ERC Advanced grant

2013
Alfred Vogt Award in Ophthalmology

2011
Alcon Award; EMBO member

2010
ERC Starting Grant
VIVA Award

2009
EMBO Young Investigator

2006
Marie Curie Excellence Grant of the European Union

2002
Harvard Junior Fellow

2001
Bearden Memorial Award for Biophysics, UC Berkeley
Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award, UC Berkeley
HFSP Short Term Fellow

1997
Fulbright Fellow