Researchers use 3D bioprinting to create eye tissue

Technique provides model for studying genesis of age-related macular degeneration and other eye diseases.

Scientists used patient stem cells and 3D bioprinting to produce eye tissue that will advance the understanding of the mechanisms of blinding diseases. The National Eye Institute (NEI) research team, part of the National Institutes of Health, printed a combination of cells forming the outer blood-retina barrier—eye tissue supporting the retina’s light-sensing photoreceptors.

The technique provides a theoretically unlimited supply of patient-derived tissue to study degenerative retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD). 

“By printing cells, we’re facilitating the exchange of cellular cues that are necessary for normal outer blood-retina barrier anatomy,” said Kapil Bharti, Ph.D., who heads the NEI Section on Ocular and Stem Cell Translational Research.

Courtesy National Institute of Health. Complete article available here. See video below.