Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year. (2017-2018 to 2020-2021)

The cornea is the outer window to the eye that transmits light to the retina for vision.x000D
Permanent transparency loss, due to disease or damage, can result in vision loss andx000D
blindness. Transplantation of human donor corneas is the only widely accepted treatment, butx000D
it is overshadowed by a worldwide shortage (only 1 donor cornea available for every 70x000D
needed) and functional limitations (sub-optimal optical results, rejection, and graft failure),x000D
particularly in very sick eyes with inflammation and infection.x000D
Our goals are (1) to overcome the donor shortage and to improve surgical outcomes byx000D
developing biosynthetic alternatives to donor corneas, and (2) to revolutionize cornea surgicalx000D
methods so that patients can be treated by removing only the damaged tissue and filling thex000D
resulting tissue gap with a transparent, injectable hydrogel that will be polymerized in situx000D
instead of a full transplantation, somewhat like dental fillings.x000D
In regenerative medicine, biomaterials are used as scaffolds to promote tissue repair. Ourx000D
approach consists in designing collagen mimics at the nanoscale level and allowing these tox000D
self-assemble into full size 3-D scaffolds after injection into the diseased cornea. We will thenx000D
use light to start the crosslinking reaction, to form a stable, transparent graft.x000D
Our proposed new treatment comprising of a new surgical paradigm and new biomaterials willx000D
offer a minimally invasive and unequaled alternative for sight restoration. Our approach willx000D
have a tremendous impact in patients who currently have very poor prognosis with traditionalx000D
corneal transplantation.