A million-dollar donation to Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine is enabling researchers to pursue an initiative to transplant a whole human eye.
Let’s start with this donation.
Given by Lois Pope, a Florida philanthropist and humanitarian, the $1 million donation is just one of multiple philanthropic projects she’s funded and led around the country.
Among these are the Lois Pope Leaders In Furthering Education (LIFE) Center, which conducts research into neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and the Lois Pope Center for Retinal and Macular Degeneration Research—both located in Miami, Florida.
Now explain this project.
Per Bascom Palmer Director Eduardo Alfonso, MD, chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Miller School, the whole eye transplant project intends to “provide blind patients with a seeing eye, perhaps by using a biological eye modified to make it functional for vision.”
That sounds like a bionic eye.
Indeed it does. And that’s the goal.
Per Bascom Palmer, the aim is for this “bionic eye” to include an electronic chip, along with gene therapy to prevent allograft rejection, “stem cell therapy to replace degenerating eye tissue, and electronic connections to the brain.”
And how will this be done?
A team of researchers, led by Thomas E. Johnson, MD, professor of clinical ophthalmology at the Miller School, will be conducting the project.
The how: by removing and transporting donor eye tissues to a recipient. Then, through microsurgery and oculoplastic procedures, the eye will be placed in the proper position and reconnected to the muscles in order to restore blood flow through the capillaries and veins.
“With our collective imagination, extensive experience, and honed skills, [our oculoplastics team is] equipped to devise innovative solutions to even the most challenging and complex issues,” Dr. Johnson stated.
What kind of surgical technique will this incorporate?
One designed by two ophthalmologists from the Miller School:
- David T. Tse, MD; professor of ophthalmology
- Dr. Nasser Ibrahim Al-Rashid; chair in ophthalmology
The doctors have designed a surgical technique for not just eye transplantation, but also for preserving the eye’s globe after it’s removed from a donor’s blood supply.
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Working with biomedical engineers, Tse has also developed a pilot life support system designed to maintain the globe during its transport from a donor to the recipient.
The key: an immediate restoration of blood flow to ensure tissue survival, according to Daniel Peleaz, PhD, a collaborator on the initiative.
A research associate professor of ophthalmology, Dr. Peleaz is also the scientific director of Bascom Palmer’s Dr. Nasser Ibrahim Al-Rashid Orbital Vision Research Center, a translational vision research laboratory.
So what kind of challenges might there be with this?
According to Dr. Peleaz, once the donor eye tissues have been placed in the host orbit, the immune system response must be suppressed to prevent rejection.
This is because only the retina is protected by the body’s blood-brain barrier; further, restoring blood flow is key to the transplanted ocular tissue’s survival.
Even if this can be done, Dr. Peleaze noted, another potential obstacle for neuro-ophthalmologists is the need to retrain the brain to interpret images received through the new eye.
Gotcha. And the long-term goal?
That involves overcoming the challenge of reconnecting the retina to the brain via a broken optic nerve in order to complete a successful transplantation. Click here to learn more about the ongoing research behind this.
Ultimately, this research could go beyond ocular diseases to treat:
- Diabetes
- Spinal cord injuries
- Deafness
- Cochlea and auditory nerve
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Parkinson’s disease
- Multiple sclerosis