Settling Sight

Restoring sight to the blind is the sort of fanciful medical marvel being brought into the realms of possibility by research. A new study considers the idea of introducing healthy cells to an irreparably damaged retina to restore function. Like a child settling into a new school, fitting in and making connections is key to survival. This is difficult to achieve, but functional links between new photoreceptor cells in the outer layer of the retina and cells in deeper layers, which carry signals from the sensors to the brain, is essential. The researchers grew photoreceptor cells from precursor cells in a dish, then transplanted these to dog retinas (pictured, new cells in red). With a new surgical technique, immunosuppression to prevent the host rejecting the transplants, and novel visualisation techniques they saw the cells survive and form connections with the existing structures (green), bringing the ultimate goal into sight.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Anthony Lewis

Writer

Ant was the web editor in the early days of BPoD, and has since worked with the UK’s top science organisations as a writer and multimedia producer. He now splits his time between freelance work and managing multimedia at The Lancet.

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• Image from work by Ana Ripolles-Garcia and colleagues, Beltran Lab, Penn Vet
• Division of Experimental Retinal Therapies, Department of Clinical Sciences and Advanced Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
• Image copyright held by the original authors
• Research published in Stem Cell Reports, July 2022