About Professor Tobias Moser

About Tobias Moser

Our work focuses on the molecular physiology and pathophysiology of sound encoding at the hair cell ribbon synapse and its restoration. We have physiologically and morphologically characterized synapses of wild-type and mutant mice with defects in hair cell synaptic coding from the molecular to the systems level. This way we have contributed to the understanding of structure and function of the hair cell ribbon synapse and initiated the concept of auditory synaptopathy. Molecular dissection and detailed physiological characterization of ribbon synapse function employ a spectrum of molecular, biophysical and physiological techniques. Towards restoration of hearing we pursue the following lines of research: optogenetic stimulation of cochlea and development of an optical cochlear implant and gene replacement therapy. For more information, please also see here.

Awards, Fellowships and Honours

• 1996 Thesis Award 1996 of the University of Jena
• 1997 Marius-Tausk Award of the German Society for Endocrinology
• 2004 Meyer-zum-Gottesberge Award of the German Society for Audiology
• 2004 HFSP grant award
• 2005 Habilitation Award of the School of Medicine, University of Göttingen
• 2015 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the German Research Foundation
• 2015 ERC advanced grant OptoHear
• 2015 Max-Planck-Fellow MPIbpc and MPIem

Research Interests and Areas of Expertise

• Synaptic Physiology and Biophysics 
• Auditory Neuroscience, Audiology and Neuroprosthetics: Our work focuses on the biophysics, molecular physiology and pathology of synaptic transmission at the hair cell ribbon synapse and the optogenetic restoration of hearing