In 2007 the Center for Ophthalmology was founded, combining the University Eye Hospital and the new Institute for Ophthalmic Research. Ten years on, it has become clear that this dynamic tandem of a clinical institution and a basic research unit, both devoted to excellence in healthcare, teaching and research is a true success story.

The Institute for Ophthalmic Research is working towards the establishment of a scientific basis for risk assessment, diagnostic screening, prevention and individualized therapy of neurosensory diseases of the eye.

There is an urgent need to develop diagnostic tools on the cellular and molecular level and novel therapeutic approaches for these diseases and to implement the full medical programe from bench to bedside. The research groups work together in order to understand disease-causing mechanisms, investigate pathomechanisms and develop gene signatures as well as biomarker signatures and to find personalized therapeutic approaches; this last goal includes validation of therapie s in animal models and translation into clinical practice.

A number of projects have formed a chain that spans the whole range from genetics, molecular mechanism of retinal disease through proteomics, preclinical physiology in animal models, special clinics and clinical trial centers that allow the development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches in a truly translational way.