Degenerative Netzhauterkrankungen
Prof. Dr. Volker Busskamp
Unsere Forschung fokussiert sich darauf, wie bestimmte Teile des Gehirns, vor allem die Retina, funktionieren. Wir untersuchen ihre Funktionen sowohl im gesunden als auch im erkrankten Zustand, wofür wir verschiedene Forschungsbereiche vereinen: Stammzellforschung, Systembiologie, Biotechnologie, Biomedizin und visuelle Neurowissenschaften. Unser Ziel ist es innovative Therapien zu entwickeln, um das Sehvermögen zu schützen, zu erhalten und wiederherzustellen.
Education
- 2007 – 2010: PhD in Neuroscience, Friedrich Miescher Institute and University of Basel, Switzerland (Botond Roska)
- 2006 - 2007: Post graduate diploma in Biology (DEA), University of Geneva, Switzerland
- 2001 – 2006: Diploma in Biotechnology, Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany
Positions held
- Since 2019: Professor for degenerative retinal diseases, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Bonn, Germany
- 2014 – 2021: Research Group Leader and Freigeist Fellow at the Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD), Germany
- 2011 – 2014: Postdoctoral fellow, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA (George M. Church)
- 2010 – 2011: Postdoctoral fellow, Friedrich Miescher Institute, Basel, Switzerland (Botond Roska)
Training
- 2014/2015: by the Volkswagen Foundation and Zentrum für Wissenschaftsmanagement e.V.
Dr. Kirsten Harmening (Lab Manager)
Dr. Sarah Kunze (Lab Coordinator)
Dr. Rouhollah Habibey (Postdoc)
Dr. Johannes Striebel (Postdoc)
Nirujan Rameshkumar (Doktorand)
Sarah Schunk (Doktorandin)
Madhu Hegde (Doktorandin)
Gabriela Guzman (Doktorandin)
Burcu Sönmez (SHK)
Ömer Akgül (SHK)
- Sharma K, Habibey R, Ribeiro MM, Cui B, Siwicki RA, Striebel J, Pawlick JS, Zorn J, Utz L, Renner M, Picelli S, Holz FG, Ruiz de Almodóvar C, Cowan CS, Busskamp V. Retinal ganglion cell survival and functional maturation in transiently vascularized human retinal organoids. Cell Stem Cell. 2026 Feb 5;33(2):253-271.e13. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2025.12.013. Epub 2026 Jan 12. PMID: 41529691.
- Striebel J, Habibey R, Wendland D, Gehring H, Podoliak E, Pawlick JS, Sharma K, Ng AHM, Pernice W, Busskamp V. Reproducible Human Neural Circuits Printed with Single-Cell Precision Reveal the Functional Roles of Ephaptic Coupling. ACS Nano. 2025 Nov 11;19(44):38457-38471. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.5c11482. Epub 2025 Oct 26. PMID: 41139300; PMCID: PMC12613839.
- Striebel J, Kalinski L, Sturm M, Drouvé N, Peters S, Lichterfeld Y, Habibey R, Hauslage J, El Sheikh S, Busskamp V, Liemersdorf C. Human neural network activity reacts to gravity changes in vitro. Front Neurosci. 2023 Mar 8;17:1085282. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1085282. PMID: 36968488; PMCID: PMC10030604.
- Habibey R, Striebel J, Schmieder F, Czarske J, Busskamp V. Long-term morphological and functional dynamics of human stem cell-derived neuronal networks on high-density micro-electrode arrays. Front Neurosci. 2022 Oct 4;16:951964. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.951964. PMID: 36267241; PMCID: PMC9578684.
- Habibey R, Striebel J, Sharma K, Busskamp V. Optogenetic Control of Human Stem Cell-Derived Neurons. Methods Mol Biol. 2022;2501:339-360. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2329-9_17. PMID: 35857237.
- Ng, A. H., Khoshakhlagh, P., Arias, J. E. R., Pasquini, G., Wang, K., Swiersy, A., ... Busskamp, V. * & Church, G. M. * (2021). A comprehensive library of human transcription factors for cell fate engineering. Nature biotechnology, 39(4), 510-519. * authos share correspondence
- Kutsche L, Gysi DM, Fallmann J, Lenk K, Petri R, Swiersy A, Klapper SD, Pircs K, Khattak S, Stadler PF, Jakobsson J, Nowick K, Busskamp V. “Combined Experimental and System-Level Analyses Reveal the Complex Regulatory Network of miR-124 during Human Neurogenesis”, Cell Systems 2018 Oct 3.
- Busskamp V, Lewis NE, Guye P, Ng AHM, Shipman SL, Byrne SE, Murn J, Sanjana NE, Li S, Li Y, Stadler M, Weiss R, Church GM. “Rapid neurogenesis through transcriptional activation in human stem cells”, Molecular Systems Biology 2014 Nov 17.
- Busskamp V, Krol J, Nelidova D, Daum J, Szikra T, Tsuda B, Jüttner J, Farrow K, Gross Scherf B, Patino Alvarez CP, Genoud C, Sothilingam V, Tanimoto N, Stadler M, Seeliger M, Stoffel M, Filipowicz M, Roska. “MicroRNAs 182 and 183 are necessary to maintain adult cone photoreceptor outer segments and visual function”, Neuron 2014 Aug 6.
- Busskamp V, Duebel J, Balya D, Fradot M, Viney TJ, Siegert S, Groner AC, Cabuy E, Forster V, Seeliger M, Biel M, Humphries P, Paques M, Mohand-Said S, Trono D, Deisseroth K, Sahel JA, Picaud S, Roska B. ”Genetic Reactivation of Cone Photoreceptors Restores Visual Responses in Retinitis pigmentosa”, Science. 23 July 2010.
