Skip to content
Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

A RETINAL PATCH TO RESTORE VISION

A main cause of blindness is the death of the photoreceptor cells that carpet the retina that lines the eyeball’s interior. 
Scientists have found a way to grow new photoreceptor cells from stem cells.
The problem: how to distribute the receptor cells evenly along the retina instead of having them scatter randomly or just clump.
Now researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison have created an elegantly simple solution: a three-dimensional grid resembling a microscopic ice cube tray that can hold 300,000 receptor cells, about three times more than previous experimental structures could.
Each compartment in the tray is a tiny funnel. A photoreceptor cell can be placed in each one, then, over time, the cell will grow down through the funnel to become part of the wearer’s own retinal tissue and eyeball structure.
The tray is made from something called poly(glycerol-sebacate), a synthetic biomaterial that has the necessary strength and elasticity to hold the cells in place but that also will be absorbed by the body over about two months as the new receptor cells mature and take root.
The research team will test their creation in large animals some time in the next few months, then refine the structure for human trials.
TRENDPOST: By the middle of the next decade, macular degeneration and other retinal-based forms of blindness will be treatable with technologies such as this.
More broadly, by the middle of this century, stem cell technology should offer a range of replacement methods for various human parts, from retinas to entire organs.

An electron microscope image of the University of Wisconsin’s tray to hold photoreceptor cells.
Photo: University of Wisconsin

Comments are closed.