About Striatech

The Striatech team, with a strong background in vision science, develops assays to measure visual abilities and treatment effects. We offer validated devices for global research and aim to continually improve and expand our tools to meet user needs.

Striatech - The Company

Understanding vision and healing visual disorders are the ultimate goals of vision research. The founders of Striatech emerge from this background: We are active vision scientists, working on the basic understanding of the visual system, and on developing strategies for healing blindness. Such basic research is done with animals. It is an inherent problem that one cannot ask animals how well they see; one therefore needs behavioral assays to

evaluate their visual abilities,
judge if a certain disease affects the visual system,
verify if a new treatment approach benefits the animal.

Company funding: The OptoDrum was developed with generous support from the University of Tübingen, the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, the European Union, and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Excellence Cluster CIN). Striatech participated as independent team in the MedTech Startup School 2015.

Striatech - The Team

Dr. Thomas Münch Founder and Owner
Director of Research and Development

Thomas Münch is Research Group Leader at the University of Tübingen at the Institute for Ophthalmic Research, and the Centre for Integrative Neuroscience. Thomas studied Biology and Mathematics in Karlsruhe. After obtaining his PhD in Neuroscience at the University of California at Berkeley with Frank Werblin, he did a PostDoc in the lab of Botond Roska at the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel. He is expert on vision research, and initiated and supervised the development of the OptoDrum System, initially targeted for the lab’s own research needs. As respected member of the vision research community, Thomas knows the current and future needs of users in the field.

Dr. Marion Mutter Founder and Owner
Chief Strategic Officer

Marion Mutter has a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Tübingen, and an MBA from the European Business School in Reutlingen. Marion studied Biology at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen and obtained a Master of Science Degree. From the beginning, Marion was involved in the development and practical usage of the OptoDrum, and she intimately knows the needs of users.

Dr. Boris Benkner Founder
Chief Executive Officer

Boris Benkner obtained his PhD in the laboratory of Thomas Münch. Boris holds a Diploma in Biology from the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. During his PhD in Neuroscience, he developed the OptoDrum System. His achievements earned him a two-year Innovation Grant of the University of Tübingen, so that the OptoDrum could be further developed into the premier system for behavioral vision testing in rodents. He is constantly testing new innovations to make the system ever more powerful and user friendly.

Hanna Dickhuth Marketing Manager

Hanna brings a wealth of experience in brand management and marketing communications to Striatech. With a background in dynamic consumer industries, she leads Striatech’s global marketing strategy and oversees event management. Her focus is on promoting Striatech's innovative testing tools for visual neuroscience through targeted content, driving brand awareness, and engaging researchers worldwide.

Athanasia Durban Head of Sales

Athanasia manages customer relations, business administration, and oversees sales partner management in the US region at Striatech. With a tenure dating back to the company's early days, she played a key role in developing the sales strategy.

Muriel Haag Global Marketing & Sales Manager

In addition to her responsibilities in marketing, Muriel plays a pivotal role in overseeing sales partner management across Asia. Since the beginning of 2024, she has also been instrumental in providing critical support in accounting and spearheading process optimization initiatives.