Botond Roska

Botond Roska (born 1969) is a Hungarian medical doctor and biomedical researcher. Much of his research is on the pathways of visual perception and how to treat diseases that cause blindness.

Botond Roska
Born1969 (age 51–52)
Budapest
CitizenshipHungary
Education
Children3
Scientific career
Institutions

Early life and education

Botond Roska was born in 1969 in Budapest, Hungary.[1] His mother was a musician and his father, Tamás Roska, was a computer scientist.[2][3] He learned to play the cello and studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music from 1985 to 1989. After a hand injury ended his cello career, he decided to study medicine and mathematics instead.[4] He studied mathematics at Eötvös Loránd University from 1991 to 1995.[5] He received a Doctor of Medicine from Semmelweis University in 1995 and then a PhD in neurobiology at the University of California, Berkeley.[6][1]

Career

After finishing his PhD, Roska researched genetics and virology through the Harvard Society of Fellows at Harvard University and its medical school. He then went to Basel, Switzerland to establish a research group at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research. In 2010 he joined the faculty at the University of Basel.[1] He is the founding director of the Institute for Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB) in Switzerland and an advisor for the Allen Institute.[6] He has been co-editor of the Annual Review of Neuroscience with Huda Zoghbi since 2017.[5]

Much of Roska's research is on visual perception, including its principles and the pathways of information processing. He also researches therapies to combat visual dysfunction and restore sight to those who are visually impaired.[1] In 2018 his research team succeeded in growing a functional, artificial retina in a laboratory.[3]

Awards and honors

In 2019 he was awarded the Semmelweis Budapest Award, which is the highest award given by Semmelweis University. Also in 2019 he received the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary, the highest order of Hungary,[7] and the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine.[1] In 2020 he won the Körber European Science Prize for his research on a gene therapy that could potentially be used to reactivate the retinae of individuals who are blind.[4]

Personal life

Roska enjoys listening to the music of Bach, writing mathematical proofs, spending time with his wife and three children, and playing the cello.[3][8]

References
  1. "Botond Roska". Fondation Louis-Jeantet. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  2. Kaszás, Fanni (24 June 2020). "Hungarian Neurobiologist Botond Roska to Receive This Year's Körber European Science Prize". Hungary Today. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  3. Jäggi, Simon (9 June 2018). "Botond Roska: Of maths and sight". Horizons. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  4. "Hungary's researcher Roska wins award for procedure that could cure blindness". DW. 9 July 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  5. "Botond Roska MD PhD Curriculum vitae" (PDF). Körber-Stiftung. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  6. "Botond Roska". Allen Institute. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  7. Raubinek, Ágnes (25 June 2020). "DR. BOTOND ROSKA RECEIVES KÖRBER EUROPEAN SCIENCE PRIZE". Semmelweis University. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  8. "Botond Roska, M.D., Ph.D." (PDF). Institute for Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel. June 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
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