AOVision Lab Bonn, Adaptive Optics Imaging and Visual Psychophysics
Dr. rer. nat. Wolf Harmening
We use adaptive optics imaging techniques to create high resolution images of the living human retina. By means of fast optical light switching and real-time compensation for retinal motion, we are able to target and stimulate individual photoreceptor cells for extremely precise visual function testing.
For further information: https://ao.ukbonn.de/
Dr.rer.nat. Wolf Harmening, born in 1978, is Emmy Noether junior research group leader in the eye clinic of the University Hospital Bonn (director: Prof. Dr. med. Frank G. Holz). He studied electrical engineering and biology at the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, where he received his doctorate in neurobiology in 2008. He then worked as a research assistant at the Institute for Zoology and Animal Physiology at the RWTH Aachen University. After a two-year research stay at the School of Optometry at the University of California, Berkeley (laboratory Prof. Dr. Austin Roorda), he returned to Germany as Emmy Noether group leader. His scientific focus is on high-resolution retinal imaging and the characterization of visual perception in humans.
Julius Ameln, PhD student Alexandr Gutnikov, M.Sc. (Programmer) Veronika Lukyanova, PhD student Maximilian Freiberg, PhD student Gisbi Shaji, PhD student Anastasiia Ivanovska, student helper Vincent Pohlan, Master student |
Selected publications:
1. Lukyanova V, Ameln J, Witten JL, Gutnikov A, Freiberg M, Sayim B, Harmening WM (2026) Sub-cone visual acuity can be achieved with less than 1 arcmin retinal slip. Journal of Vision, 26(2):7, 1-15 [doi: 10.1167/jov.26.2.7]
2. Sincich L, Sabesan R, Tuten WS, Meadway A, Roorda A, Harmening WM (2026) Functional Imaging of Cone Photoreceptors. In:Kremers JC, Baraas R (eds) Human Color Vision. Springer Series in Vision Research. Springer, Cham. [doi: 10.1007/978-3-032-09457-5_4]
3. Harmening WM (2025) Retinal Imaging Considerations After RLRL Treatment for Myopia. Letter to the editor regarding: Cone density changes after repeated low-level red light treatment in children with myopia. JAMA-Ophthalmology [doi: 10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2025.3505]
4. Ameln J, Witten JL, Gutnikov A, Lukyanova V, Holz FG, Harmening WM (2025) In-vivo cone photoreceptor topography of the human foveola. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 66,13. [doi:10.1167/iovs.66.11.13]
5. Bucci A, Büttner M, Domdei N, Rosselli FB, Znidaric M, Bartram J, Gänswein T, Diggelmann R, De Gennaro M, Cowan CS, Harmening WM, Hierlemann A, Roska B, Franke F (2025) Synchronization of visual perception within the human fovea. Nature Neuroscience, 2025-07. [doi:10.1038/s41593-025-02011-3]
6. Gutnikov A*, Hähn-Schumacher P*, Ameln J, Gorgi Zadeh S, Schultz T, Harmening WM (2025) Neural network assisted annotation and analysis tool to study in-vivo foveolar photoreceptor topography. Scientific Reports, 15, 23858 [doi:10.1073/s41598-025-08028-9]
7. Nghiem T-A E*, Reiniger JL*, Dufour O, Harmening WM*, Azeredo da Silveira R* (2025) Fixational eye movements as active sensation for high visual acuity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122 (6) e2416266122 [doi:10.1073/pnas.2416266122]
8. Saßmannshausen M*, Ameln J*, von der Emde L*, Holz FG, Ach T, Harmening WM (2024) Evaluation of retinal sensitivity in complete retinal-pigment-epithelium and outer retinal atrophy (cRORA) lesions in intermediate age-related macular degeneration (iAMD) by high-resolution microperimetry. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 13(24), 7785 [doi:10.3390/jcm13247785]
9. Witten JL, Lukyanova V, Harmening WM (2024) Sub-cone visual resolution by active, adaptive sampling in the human foveola. eLife, 2024 Jun 28v2 [doi:10.7554/eLife.98648.3]
10. Domdei N, Ameln J, Gutnikov A, Witten JL, Holz FG, Wahl S, Harmening WM (2023) Cone density is correlated to outer segment length and retinal thickness in the human foveola. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 64(15):11, 1-11 [doi:10.1167/iovs.64.15.11] [PDF] [Suppl.] [Data]
