Vision scientist Teresa Puthussery receives MacArthur ‘genius’ award

Teresa Puthussery, a UC Berkeley scientist whose insights into the retina could one day help those with vision loss regain their sight, has been named a 2025 MacArthur “genius” Fellow. 

The award recognizes individuals who have shown exceptional originality in their creative pursuits, and comes with an $800,000 stipend that fellows can use in any way they wish. The MacArthur Foundation announced the 22 new 2025 fellows today (Wednesday, Oct. 8).

Puthussery, an associate professor at UC Berkeley’s Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science, was at home enjoying her coffee one Tuesday morning when she got the call from the MacArthur Foundation. Assuming it was a spam call, she let the phone ring many times — and even Googled the number to find out who it might be — before finally picking up.

“It wasn’t until they started reading out a description of my work that I was convinced that they had called the right person,” Puthussery said. “It’s certainly just really unexpected, and so humbling and gratifying.”

Puthussery began her career as a clinical optometrist before returning to school to become a vision scientist, and is driven as much by the thrill of discovery as the desire to help patients who are experiencing vision loss. In her research, she uses a variety of approaches, from molecular analyses to functional imaging, to discover the role of different types of cells in the healthy retina and identify how neurodegenerative diseases disrupt normal visual signaling.

“Dr. Puthussery’s work embodies the spirit of discovery and innovation that is at the core of Berkeley’s research mission and showcases how the work we do here has a transformative impact on human health and well-being,” said UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons. “This prestigious award is richly deserved, a source of great pride across our campus community and a perfect example of why Berkeley is one of society’s most valuable assets.”

Alongside Puthussery, the 2025 MacArthur Fellows include two UC Berkeley alums. Chemical engineer William Tarpeh, an assistant professor at Stanford University, was recognized for his work in creating sustainable solutions for wastewater treatment. He received a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from Berkeley in 2017. Astrophysicist Kareem El-Badry, an assistant professor at the California Institute of Technology, was also recognized for expanding our knowledge of binary star systems and black holes. El-Badry received a Ph.D. in astronomy from Berkeley in 2021.

“This extraordinary honor reflects not only Dr. Puthussery’s brilliance and creativity but also the profound impact of her work,” said Sharon Bentley, dean of UC Berkeley’s Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science. “All of us at the school are incredibly proud to celebrate this recognition of her visionary contributions.”

Understanding the fundamentals of sight

The retina is a thin layer of tissue that lines the back of the eye and contains millions of cells that capture and encode visual information from our surroundings. These include photoreceptor cells, which detect light hitting the eye, and ganglion cells, which pass visual signals from the retina to the brain. 

Millions of people worldwide suffer from degenerative diseases that affect the retina, including retinitis pigmentosa, age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma. These conditions can cause partial or complete loss of sight, and treatments are currently limited after vision loss has occurred.

“In the human retina, there are still many ganglion cell types whose functions remain unclear. We’d like to better understand what these different cell types are doing and how they’re contributing to our visual perception and behavior,” Puthussery said. “Not only will this provide a deeper understanding of the fundamentals of how we see and navigate the world, but it will also help in creating better tests to diagnose and monitor different retinal diseases, and in developing therapies to restore naturalistic sight after vision loss.”

Her lab recently discovered a rare type of ganglion cell that, like a gimbal for a camera, helps to stabilize our gaze. These cells are crucial for helping us maintain a sharp, steady view of the world. She is now exploring the roles of other ganglion cell types, including one which might be critical for helping us spot things that are moving in our peripheral vision.

“We’ve developed an experimental approach that allows us to resolve the functions of sparse but important cell types that we know very little about,” Puthussery said. “And so, going forward, we’re interested in using this same approach to understand how different retinal cell types contribute to our overall visual function.”

In collaboration with researchers at the University of Rochester and the University Of Wisconsin, Madison, Puthussery is also engaged in a “moonshot” project to help restore vision by generating new photoreceptors in a lab from stem cells and transplanting them into damaged retinas. To be successful, not only must transplanted photoreceptors survive, but they must correctly “plug in” to other retinal cells that help carry signals to the brain. Puthussery’s lab is testing whether these transplanted photoreceptors are able to reach out and make appropriate connections.

Making an impact on human health

Puthussery grew up in the small rural community of Warragul, Australia, located about an hour outside of Melbourne. As the daughter of two school teachers — her mother taught math and her father taught science — she was exposed to biology and the natural world at an early age. 

“I always liked being in my dad’s biology classroom. There were lots of interesting specimens, microscopes and fun things to play with,” Puthussery said. “I think his curiosity and passion for science rubbed off on me.”

By the time she started college, Puthussery knew she wanted to pursue a career in biology and human health, but wasn’t sure which direction to go. Her fascination with the human brain and sensory systems ultimately led her to optometry.

She was later driven to become a research scientist when, as a young optometrist, she saw patients with untreatable vision loss. One patient in particular, also in his early 20s, left a lasting impression.

“He had an inherited blinding disease called retinitis pigmentosa and he was gradually losing his vision. For me, this was kind of a turning point because I thought, ‘Wow, how is it that we have people in the prime of their lives, my age, progressively losing their vision and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.’” Puthussery said. “I think seeing that in the clinic made me realize that we’ve got some really big problems to solve, and that spurred me in the direction of doing a Ph.D. in vision research.”

After completing a Ph.D. in neuroscience at the University of Melbourne, Puthussery moved to the U.S. to do her postdoctoral work at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). When the opportunity to join the faculty at Berkeley arose, she jumped at the chance to get what she had always seen as her “dream job,” given the university’s reputation in optometry and vision science.

She hopes the MacArthur award helps highlight the work of scientists around the world who are making rapid progress toward understanding these eye diseases and helping patients regain their sight. 

“Twenty years ago, many of the discoveries that we’ve made as a field, and even the methods we use in my lab, would have seemed like science fiction,” Puthussery said. “I really hope that this recognition from the MacArthur Foundation will not only bring attention to the importance of basic vision research and the study of retinal diseases that we’re conducting in my own lab, but also highlight the work of the many talented scientists all over the world whose efforts continue to have a big impact on human health.”