New funding could make whole eye transplant a reality

A multi-institutional team of researchers, including two Northwestern University engineers, has received up to $56 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to help make vision-restoring whole-eye transplants a reality. The agency announced today.

The funding will support a six-year effort to develop and test viability, imaging, surgical, immunomodulatory, ocular preservation and nerve regeneration (VISION) strategies for whole eye transplantation.

Northwestern's Hao F. Zhang and Chen Sun We help you design, develop, and test a new generation of visible light optical coherence tomography (vis-OCT). vis-OCT is a functional imaging technique invented at Northwestern University that provides new capabilities for anatomical and functional imaging of the eye. Using vis-OCT, researchers analyze the eyes of potential organ donors to determine whether they are suitable for harvesting. The Northwestern team will also support imaging needs for evaluating the eye before transplant surgery and in basic research in animal models.

“Supporting ARPA-H's ambitious goals with our unique retinal imaging technology is an exciting opportunity for Northwestern researchers to improve the lives of patients by applying advanced imaging technology developed in Northwestern's laboratories.” It brings the unique benefit of potential improvements,” Zhang said. “Working closely with team members across the country will also lead to new and exciting innovations.”

Zhang, an expert in optical coherence imaging, is a professor of biomedical engineering at Northwestern University. McCormick School of Engineeringwhere he Functional optical imaging laboratory and founded the Center for Vision and Ophthalmology Engineering. Sun is a professor of mechanical engineering at McCormick College and develops innovative 3D printing technologies with a focus on biomedical applications.

Unraveling the most common causes of irreversible vision loss

VISION is part of ARPA-H's Human Eye Allograft Transplantation (THEA) initiative, which is revolutionizing the reconnection of nerves to the brain and the ability to transplant, preserve, and restore vision to the visually impaired. This program aims to make breakthrough developments that have not yet been achieved in science.

The VISION team includes 40 scientists, physicians, and industry experts from across the United States. By combining their skills and expertise, team members simultaneously advance and create cutting-edge medical devices, artificial intelligence integration, new surgical techniques, breakthroughs in generative medicine, and reduced transplant rejection. I'm going.

Transplants in ophthalmology are not new. Each year, more than 70,000 people in the United States donate their eyes after death, allowing the cornea, the clear outermost layer of the eye, to improve life and preserve vision. However, these implants do not address the world's most common cause of irreversible vision loss: retinal neurodegeneration caused by diseases such as glaucoma, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy.

How to regenerate a functional optic nerve

Ophthalmologists and vision scientists are counting on THEA to fill that gap. To do so, researchers face a major challenge: determining how to regenerate a functional optic nerve that connects the eye to the brain.

“This group has been working for decades to find ways to promote optic nerve regeneration and retinal neuron survival in glaucoma and other blinding diseases,” said Dr. Roberts, director of ophthalmology at Stanford University and the Byers Eye Institute. Director Dr. Jeffrey Goldberg said. University and grant principal investigator. “This puts this group of collaborators in the perfect position to address optic nerve regeneration and neuronal survival in the context of eye transplantation.”

Although the ultimate goal of this project is to achieve whole-eye transplantation, this effort will no doubt lead to further breakthroughs along the way.

“As we develop a suite of new technologies that can restore vision not only to THEA, but also to many patients with glaucoma and other eye diseases, we are leveraging all the right channels to ensure that new drugs, gene therapies, and devices We’re going to make it available.’ Everything,” Goldberg said.