Researchers set sights on 14,000 eye transplants

Chennai: At least half-a-dozen eye hospitals in the country are collaborating with a research centre in Chennai to create the inner layer of the cornea, the vital window of the human eye.

Nichi-In Centre for Regenerative Medicine (NCRM) hopes to make corneal endothelium available on a commercial scale.

NCRM eventually plans to set up a Corneal Endothelial Stem Precursor Cell Bank at a cost of $8 million (Dh29.3) that would put it in a position to facilitate some 14,000 eye transplants a year.

The project is based on the findings of Japanese doctor Shiro Amano of the Tokyo University School of Medicine, who in 2002 found that the inner corneal layer contains stem cells that can multiply manifold in the laboratory.

"The finding triggered worldwide research in creating corneal cells for therapeutic use," said Samuel J.K. Abraham, lead researcher and director of the Chennai laboratory of the Nichi-In Centre.