LV Prasad Eye Institute, CCMB, IIT Hyderabad collaborates to develop the 3D printed cornea
Researchers from LV Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI), Hyderabad, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH), and the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, have collaborated to develop a 3D-printed cornea from the human donor corneal tissue. Developed indigenously through government and philanthropic funding, the product is completely natural, contains no synthetic components, is free of animal residues and is safe to use in patients.
Dr Sayan Basu and Dr Vivek Singh, lead researchers from LV Prasad Eye Institute believe, “This can be a ground-breaking and disruptive innovation in treating diseases like corneal scarring (where the cornea becomes opaque) or Keratoconus (where the cornea gradually becomes thin with time). It is a made-in-India product by an Indian clinician-scientist team and the first 3-D printed human cornea that is optically and physically suitable for transplantation. The bio-ink used to make this 3D printed cornea can be sight-saving for army personnel at the site of injury to seal the corneal perforation and prevent infection during war-related injuries or in a remote area with no tertiary eye care facility.”
Each donor cornea can aid in the preparation of three 3D-printed corneas. In addition, the cornea can be printed in various diameters from 3 mm to 13 mm and can be customised based on the specifications of the patient. This can potentially offer a solution to the shortage of donor corneas for transplantation and has great clinical significance. However, the printed corneas will need to undergo further clinical testing and development before they can be used in patients, and this may take several years.
It will be interesting to see how the bioprinted cornea would integrate and contribute to vision restoration by modulation of the pathological microenvironment. Multiomic approaches would be used to understand these processes says Dr Bokara Kiran Kumar, Senior Scientist, CCMB, one of the lead investigators of the project.
“We used a biomimicking approach to provide an optimized microenvironment for stromal regeneration while maintaining the curvature and thickness of the bioprinted cornea to facilitate surgical implantation. We are hopeful about the positive outcome of India’s first 3D bioprinted corneal graft,” says Dr Falguni Pati, Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, IIT Hyderabad.
This work was impossible without the focused effort of research students Shibu Chameettachal, Deeksha Prasad, Yash Parekh and other team members from LVPEI, CCMB and IITH.
This research was funded by a grant from the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, and the translational work leading up to clinical trials in patients will be funded through a grant from Sree Padmavathi Venkateswara Foundation, Vijayawada.
