Page 76 - The Indian Optician Digital Edition January-February 2022
P. 76
THE TEAM BEHIND THE
BIOENGINEERED CORNEA AT
THE BIENCO LAUNCH EVENT,
WITH NSW MINISTER FOR
HEALTH BRAD HAZZARD
t present, people with a damaged cornea
have only one option: to wait for a corneal
Atransplant using donor tissue from an Daniell, Head of Corneal Research at the Centre
eye bank. However, according to estimates, 53 for Eye Research Australia (CERA), the University
per cent of the world’s population do not have of Melbourne.
access to corneal transplants. This is because
many countries do not have their own eye bank The good news is that for the millions of
or have a lack of donors, so millions, particularly people around the world with corneal blindness,
in the developing world, are unable to receive an alternative to waiting for donor tissue is closer
the surgery. than ever before. In a first of its kind project,
researchers from CERA and other institutions
“That’s a very well-organised, expensive and across Australia are working together to create
highly regulated system that works well in a fully bioengineered cornea. It has been a
Australia, America and Europe, but not so well decade-long mission which is taking its next
in the rest of the world,” says Professor Mark steps with this new national collaboration.
| JAN-FEB 2022 | 72 TECH UPDATE
