The CU Anschutz Medical Campus has recently received a significant boost in funding as part of a national initiative to cure blindness. With up to $46 million in federal funding over the next five years, researchers at the campus are embarking on a groundbreaking project to pursue a full eye transplantation, a first-of-its-kind endeavor.
Chancellor Don Elliman expressed optimism about the potential to cure blindness, stating that what was once a dream is now within reach. The University of Colorado team, led by Dr. Kia Washington, is one of four teams in the United States to receive funding from the federal Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). The team will focus on achieving the first-ever vision-restoring eye transplant using innovative stem cell and bioelectronic technologies.
Having already successfully completed the transplant procedure in rats, albeit without restoring vision, the researchers are now moving on to larger animals. While a team at New York University performed a full eye transplant on a human patient in November 2023, the procedure did not result in restored vision. However, Washington emphasized the importance of developing a small-animal model as a significant milestone in advancing the project towards restoring the optic nerve and connecting a patient’s brain with a donor’s eye.
The CU team will continue their research on large animals to advance optic nerve regenerative strategies and study immunosuppression to prevent organ rejection in patients. The ultimate goal is to progress to human trials in the future. ARPA-H, which was created two years ago, will oversee the teams’ work, involving researchers from 52 institutions nationwide, including the University of Southern California, the University of Wisconsin, Indiana University, Johns Hopkins University, and the National Eye Institute.
The total funding available for the teams is $125 million, provided in a contract format. The projects will be evaluated based on their success and promise, with the potential for full funding over the next five years. Dr. Calvin Roberts, an ophthalmologist overseeing the project, highlighted the broader implications of the research, suggesting that success in curing blindness could lead to advancements in treating traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury.
The ambitious project has been likened to a moonshot, symbolizing a significant leap in medical innovation. Other teams involved in the research will focus on technologies such as 3-D printed click-lock gel with stem cell-derived retinal cells and donor eye procurement. Washington compared the effort to cure blindness to a biblical feat, emphasizing its monumental significance.
As the project progresses, Washington expressed confidence in the team’s trajectory, likening it to a space shuttle that has already launched. The quest to cure blindness is a developing story that holds promise for transforming the field of ophthalmology. Stay tuned for updates on this groundbreaking research endeavor.
