Botond Roska, PhD, director of science at the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB), and José-Alain Sahel, MD, distinguished professor and chairman of ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh and chair of the IOB Scientific Advisory Board, have received the 2026 António Champalimaud Vision Award.

Worth €1 million, the award recognizes more than 2 decades of fundamental, translational, and clinical research by Drs. Roska and Sahel aimed at understanding retinal function and developing strategies to restore vision. A major focus of their collaborative work has been optogenetics, an approach designed to make surviving retinal cells responsive to light after photoreceptors have been lost to retinal disease.

Dr. Roska, a neuroscientist and founding director of IOB, has investigated the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying retinal function, with his research helping lay the groundwork for cell-specific approaches to treating retinal disorders.

Dr. Sahel, an ophthalmologist and clinician-scientist, has pursued therapeutic strategies across gene therapy, neuroprotection, and vision restoration. Their long-standing collaboration has sought to translate discoveries involving retinal circuitry into therapeutic approaches that can ultimately be evaluated in patients.

A milestone in that work came in 2021, when Drs. Roska, Sahel, and collaborators reported in Nature Medicine that an optogenetic therapy partially restored visual function in a patient who was blind as a result of retinitis pigmentosa.

According to IOB, funding associated with the award will support the next phase of the researchers' work.

Established by the Champalimaud Foundation, the António Champalimaud Vision Award recognizes contributions to the understanding, prevention, and treatment of blindness and visual impairment. The €1 million award is described by IOB as the world's largest prize in the field of vision and ophthalmology.