Champalimaud Prize honors breakthrough therapies that restore sight to the blind
Researchers Botond Roska and José-Alain Sahel received the 2026 António Champalimaud Prize for developing optogenetic treatments that partially restore vision in people with retinal disease.
The António Champalimaud Foundation granted its 2026 vision prize to Botond Roska and José-Alain Sahel in recognition of their pioneering optogenetic therapies that reactivate light-sensing cells in the retina of blind patients. The foundation described the duo as among the most creative and productive scientists developing technologies to regain sight, noting the work as a prime example of translational research that moves discoveries from fundamental biology to clinical application.
Their methods introduce light-responsive ion channels into retinal ganglion, bipolar or dormant cone cells, enabling these cells to substitute for damaged photoreceptors and restore partial vision, as demonstrated in animal models and later in human clinical trials. Roska, a biomedical researcher at the University of Basel and founder of the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology, has mapped retinal circuits using viral and genetic tools.
Sahel, an ophthalmologist at the University of Pittsburgh and founder of the Institut de la Vision in Paris, has also identified key retinal proteins that support cone survival and shown gene-therapy benefits for Leber hereditary optic neuropathy. The prize, worth one million euros, celebrates contributions that alleviate visual impairment and advance cutting-edge ophthalmic science.
