ARPA-H announces funding for development of eye transplantation

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), today announced the teams to receive awards from its Transplantation of Human Eye Allografts (THEA) program. The agency's commitment is up to $125 million, for a series of groundbreaking investments to develop the first-ever complete eye transplantation procedure and restore vision for the blind and visually impaired.

"This project's goal-transplanting a functional human eye-is bold. Achieving it would be nothing short of remarkable and life-changing for people with major vision loss," said Kapil Bharti, Ph.D., NEI scientific director and a collaborator on one of the four newly funded project teams.

The teams are led by

• InGel Therapeutics in Allston, Mass. (TA 2), focusing on 3-D printed click-lock gel technology with micro-tunneled scaffolds containing stem cell-derived retinal cells.
• Stanford University (TAs 1, 2, and 3), focusing on donor eye procurement, developing new strategies to promote survival and regeneration of the transplanted cells, and performing transplant surgeries. Stanford news story.
• The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (TAs 2 and 3), focusing on developing novel stem cell and bioelectronic technologies to promote nerve regeneration and performing transplant surgeries. U. Colorado news story.
• The University of Miami Bascom Palmer Eye Institute (TA 1), focusing on donor eye procurement and preservation outside the body with its eye-ECMOTM device. U. Miami news story.
  
  ARPA-H announcement