Bence Gyorgy, MD, PhD
Bence Gyorgy, M.D., Ph.D. is currently Head of Clinical Translation at the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (Basel, Switzerland). By training, Dr. Gyorgy is a medical doctor and received his PhD in molecular genetics in 2013. During his PhD he studied how cells exchange information via extracellular vesicles in the lab of Prof. Edit I. Buzas. He spent five years as a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology and the Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Neurology. Working in three different labs (Prof. David Corey, Prof. Xandra Breakefield and Prof. Casey Maguire), he developed adeno-associated vectors (AAVs) and precision gene editing tools for gene therapy. Currently, he is leading three preclinical translational research programs for vision loss at the IOB, (1) cone-based optogenetics for vision restoration, (2) base editing for Stargardt disease and (3) prime editing for Usher Syndrome Type 2A. Besides these core translational activities, he leads an academical group which explores novel gene therapy solutions for neurosensory diseases. He is an Investigator in the European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases in the GET-READY consortium. He is also active as a clinician and sees patients with inherited retinal dystrophies, including patients with Usher syndrome. His main area of expertise includes gene therapy, gene editing and translational research in the field of sensory diseases. Among others, he received the RetinAward from the Swiss Vitreoretinal Group, the Excellence in Research Award from the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy; he was an Edward R. and Anne G. Lefler Center Fellow.
