LambdaVision has closed on $7 million in seed funding to support ongoing clinical development of the biotech’s investigational artificial retina for vision loss treatment.
An artificial retina? Sounds intriguing … but let’s start with this company.
Headquartered in Woodbridge, Connecticut, LambdaVision was founded in 2018 as a biotechnology company with a unique focus: leveraging space to develop a protein-based artificial retina.
Its end-game goal: To restore vision in blind patients diagnosed with retinal degenerative diseases (think: age-related macular degeneration [AMD] and retinitis pigmentosa [RP]).
Next: the financing.
The seed funding round was co-led by two investors (with additional support from Seraphim Space, a major venture capital group specializing in the space sector) :
- Seven Seven Six, an early-stage venture capital firm
- Aurelia Foundry, a deep tech space fund
As for the funding itself: The $7 million builds on the more than $18 million the company has received from NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the National Eye Institute.
And as a result?
This latest addition provides LambdaVision with enough capital to cover operating expenses into 2027.
- These expenses will include advancing preclinical development and scaling up space-enabled manufacturing of its artificial retina—bringing it one step closer to clinical trials.
Now, to this artificial retina …
What it does: LambdaVision’s patent-protected, protein-based artificial retina:
- Uses proteins similar to the visual pigment rhodopsin, naturally found in the human eye
- Mimics the light-absorbing properties of human photoreceptors
How did LambaVision develop this?
Through a production process that alternates layers of the protein bacteriorhodopsin, and a polymer (supported by a synthetic fiber membrane) to ensure it’s dense enough to absorb appropriate amounts of light.
The final product: Is an artificial retina composed of “highly-oriented layers of bacteriorhodopsin.”
- Upon light absorption, the retina also generates “a unidirectional ion gradient” capable of stimulating the remaining neural circuitry of the degenerated retina.
And the intended result: Restoration of functional sight in blind retinal degenerative diseased patients.
Can I get a visual of this process?
See below.
As the company noted: The artificial retina is reportedly “capable of activating neural cells still present in degenerated retinas of blind patients.”
And how does it compare to other electrode-based implants?
Those implants’ designs typically require external hardware to transmit and manipulate an incoming signal—and often lead to low resolution.
In comparison: LambdaVision noted that its artificial retina has the potential for “far greater resolution” due to being powered by incident light and not requiring “any external power supplies or bulky hardware on or outside the eye.”
- Even further: The company’s retina is also “being designed to work for anyone impacted by (RP) regardless of genotype.”
Talk about the space component.
The company has partnered with Space Tango, a Lexington, Kentucky-based aerospace company—with funding from NASA—to explore the potential benefits of using microgravity to produce the artificial retina.
Specifically: Aboard the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory—which it has been launched to for a reported nine missions.
… why?
Because of the benefits associated with low-Earth orbit (LEO). Learn more about what this is (and why it’s critical for commercialization).
- The details: Using microgravity aboard the ISS, the company can produce “highly uniform, 200-layer protein thin films”—a manufacturing capability challenging to replicate on Earth.
More precisely: Producing the artificial retina while in LEO “improves the homogeneity of the alternating protein and polymer layers” as well as enables increased stability, performance, and optical quality of the retina’s multi-layer system, according to LambdaVision.
Any benefits from an operational standpoint?
Indeed. Per LambdaVision, this could also potentially reduce the amount of materials required to produce the artificial retina, as well as lower costs, and accelerate production time for future pre-clinical and clinical efforts.
And in recent news: The company was recently awarded a NASA Phase 2 in Space Production Applications (InSpa) award to further develop the layer-by-layer manufacturing process supporting the artificial retina’s production.
Nice! So what’s next for the company?
The next step is pursuing investigational new drug (IND)-enabling clinical trials on the artificial retina, which will then be followed by clinical trials evaluating the retina for RP patients (and, eventually, AMD patients).
Stay tuned for updates on this in the near future …