Bright Eyes

When light floods into our eyes, cells in the retina called photoreceptors turn colourful chemical signals into electrical ones – these pass down through layers of different cells towards the optic nerve bound for the brain. These first steps of vision take a fraction of a second, but are fragile – exposure to too much light, or some medications, can damage eye cells and make them difficult to study. This retinal organoid grows from pluripotent stem cells nurtured in a lab over an artificial 'tissue' that provides nurturing chemicals, just as the bloodstream would feed the developing eye. Some of its cells (artificially stained blue) transform into different photoreceptors known as rods (red) and cones (green). This retina-on-a-chip can now be used to test drugs to improve eye health, or identify those with potentially harmful side-effects.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Image from work by Kevin Achberger and colleagues
• Institute of Neuroanatomy and Developmental Biology (INDB), Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
• Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Published in eLife, August 2019