11.05.2026

Award for Philipp Berens and Thomas Euler

International team receives the RPB Transformational Team Science Award for the Eyewire II project

The two researchers of the international team for Project Eyewire II: Philipp Berens (left) and Thomas Euler (right).

As part of an international team of four, the two researchers from the University of Tübingen — our cluster spokesperson Philipp Berens, Professor of Data Science and Director of the Hertie Institute for AI in Brain Health, and Thomas Euler, Professor of Ophthalmology — are conducting research on the Eyewire II project. The project was awarded the RPB Transformational Team Science Award, endowed with $950,000, and granted by the U.S. organization Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB).

Eyewire II is a globally recognized research initiative at the intersection of neuroscience and vision research. Together with colleagues from the U.S., the researchers aim to create a complete map of the mouse retina for the very first time —a so-called connectome. The resulting open datasets are expected to unlock new possibilities for researchers worldwide.

The project is considered a potential milestone: The combination of the latest imaging techniques with artificial intelligence could revolutionize our understanding of how the brain processes visual information — and, in the long run, lead to the development of new therapies for eye diseases.

Following a report from the University of Tübingen.