Christina Zeitz

Scientific biography

Christina Zeitz is the head of the Department of Genetics and research director (DR2) at INSERM. Together with Isabelle Audo, they are leading the team S6, A-Z "Identification of gene defects leading to progressive or non-progressive eye diseases" at the Institut de la Vision (INSERM, UMR_S968, CNRS, UMR_7210, Sorbonne University). Originally born in Germany in 1972 and studying chemistry in Freiburg, Germany, Seattle, USA and Berlin, Germany she obtained her PhD in Chemistry at the Free University of Berlin in 2004, which focused on the identification of a new gene involved in congenital stationary night blindness (CSNB). The laboratory work was carried out at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Genetics in Berlin and at the Institute of Medical Genetics at the University of Zurich in Switzerland in the laboratory of Wolfgang Berger. After her thesis she identified three other genes involved in the same retinal disease. Subsequently, she was recruited by an international committee in 2007 as a team leader at the Institut de la Vision and obtained a permanent INSERM position in 2010. Her work has resulted in many original articles (e.g., American Journal of Human Genetics, Progress in Retinal and Eye Research and IOVS) and scientific awards. Christina Zeitz is a member of several scientific associations such as the Association of Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), where she was an elected member (2014-2017) for the organization of the meeting in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology section and the European Association for Vision and Eye Research (EVER), where she is elected chair (2019-2024) of the Molecular Biology / Genetics / Epidemiology section and now elected president (2024-2025). She is an editorial board member for the scientific journals “Investigative Ophthalmology and Vision Science” and “Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases". She is regularly consulted as a reviewer for scientific journals, grant application, HDRs and theses. https://publons.com/researcher/1272946/christina-zeitz/.