Matthias’ PhD research focused on creating and investigating hybrid light-matter particles in atomically-thin semiconductors, which show great potential for future ultra-energy efficient technologies, including non-traditional sensors, lasers, and transistors.
As a Schmidt Science Fellow, Matthias pivots from Physics to Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering to work on the next generation of epiretinal implants. He will utilize his physics and engineering background to contribute to creating this advanced technology in the Chichilnisky Lab at Stanford University, which can stimulate the retina with its natural neural code and transmit large data volumes into our nervous system that our brains can directly interpret. Matthias hopes his research will help millions of people with vision impairment to regain high-fidelity visual perception.
Matthias was born and raised in a village in the North-Eastern part of Bavaria, Germany. Following a family tragedy, he became motivated to tackle knowledge gaps around the brain such as understanding how consciousness is formed. His goal is to combine optoelectronics and neuroscience to develop bionic eyes, brain-machine interfaces, and diagnostic tools that operate on single-cell resolution, enabling us to learn more about our brains and find cures and treatments for neurological diseases.