Eye Diseases

2022 HSCI Nervous System Disease Program Request for Proposals on Vision Repair and Regeneration AWARD AMOUNT Trainee Awards will be made in amounts of up to $75,000 total funding per year. Faculty Awards will be made in amounts of up to $150,000 total...

New strategy to cloak AAVs from unwanted immune responses One of the best ways to package gene therapies and deliver them into cells is to use adeno-associated viruses (AAVs). This delivery vector does not cause disease and can efficiently target many...

Scientists develop a gene therapy to reverse age-related vision loss and glaucoma damage in mice Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) scientists are part of a team that has successfully restored vision in mice by turning back the clock in aged eye cells in...

A stem cell therapy for cornea regeneration reaches the clinical-trial stage By Jessica Lau As the eye’s outer layer of protection, the cornea needs to constantly regenerate to maintain a clear surface. Losing the cornea-regenerating stem cells leads to...

George Murphy wants to use stem cells to replace scarring with regenerative healing. George Murphy’s goal is to coax skin stem cells into healing wounds by regenerating tissue instead of forming a scar. To figure out how to do it, he is studying scarless...

Markus Frank and his colleagues are reprogramming skin cells with the goal of giving people back their sight. Seed funding from HSCI led Markus Frank and his colleagues to discover that the cell surface molecule ABCB5 can be used to identify limbal stem...

HSCI, a network of the nation’s top stem cell and regenerative medicine researchers, gathers to exchange ideas and forge new collaborations to advance biomedical research. Summary 2018 gathering of stem cell scientists provided rich ground for knowledge...

Despite scar tissue (blue), axons were able to regenerate (white) after axon injury. HSCI researchers show axons form functional synaptic connections with their target, but unexpectedly, exhibit conduction defect due to lack of myelination. Combining...

HSCI Principal Faculty member Connie Cepko and postdoctoral researcher Wenjun Xiong talk about developing a gene therapy to stave off blindness. Video: Rick Groleau Gene therapy slows vision loss in mouse models of retinal degeneration By Stephanie...

Stem cells within the limbus of the human eye can now be purified with the help of an antibody. Discovery is expected to quickly translate into improved human therapies A Boston-based scientific collaborative, led by Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI)...