SCIENCE ALERT
Scientists from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the US have coaxed light-sensitive eye cells grown in a lab to reconnect after separation, an important step for transplantation into patients to treat various eye diseases.
Working together, these photoreceptor cells combine with other cells to form the retina; a thin layer of tissue at the back of the eye responsible for transforming wavelengths of light into signals the brain interprets as vision.
It’s been a goal of researchers to grow retinal cells outside the body and use them to replace dead or dysfunctional tissues inside the eye.
In 2014, the researchers generated organoids (cell clusters self-organized into 3D forms in the lab) that resembled the form and function of a real retina. They did this by reprogramming human skin cells to act as stem cells, which were then encouraged to develop into several types of retinal cell.
Last year, the same team published studies showing that lab-grown retinal cells could respond to different wavelengths and intensities of light, as well as reach out towards neighboring cells to make connections…
