WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., – January 7, 2024 - The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) is part of a major undertaking that will bring together more than 40 scientists, doctors, and industry experts from around the country to make vision-restoring whole eye transplants a reality.
The award of up to $56 million is from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Transplantation of Human Eye Allografts (THEA) program. The awarded project title is Viability, Imaging, Surgical, Immunomodulation, Ocular Preservation and Neuroregeneration (VISION) Strategies for Whole Eye Transplant—a reflection of the breadth of the collaboration assembled to solve such a complex challenge. The WFIRM has been approved for an initial contracting commitment of $5.2 million over four years.
Dr. Vijay Gorantla, a renowned expert in Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation (VCA) and Professor at WFIRM, will join this project led by co-directors, Dr. Jeffrey Goldberg at Stanford University and Dr. Jose Sahel at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The studies spearheaded by Dr. Gorantla at WFIRM will play a pivotal role in addressing the technical, biological, and immunological hurdles in whole eye transplant. “Achieving vision restoration through whole eye transplantation is an unparalleled opportunity to transform lives. This ARPA-H program brings together unmatched expertise, innovative technologies, and a shared determination to overcome challenges once deemed insurmountable,” said Dr. Gorantla.
“This project represents the potential of regenerative medicine to solve complex medical challenges,” said Dr. Anthony Atala, Director of WFIRM. “Through collaboration and innovation, this work will advance technologies that could restore vision and fundamentally improve lives.”
The ‘whole’ plan
The VISION for Whole Eye Transplant project is holistic in every sense of the word.
The team is made up of a potent mix of expertise and skill, which will be needed as they simultaneously advance and create cutting-edge medical devices, artificial intelligence integrations, new surgical techniques, regenerative medicine breakthroughs, and rejection mitigation. The group will work dynamically, sharing information in real time and pursuing the most promising leads.
A strategic WFIRM partner and collaborator, BMI OrganBank, is working on the project under the leadership of Dr. Varun Kopparthy, Vice President of Product Development. BMI OrganBank will play a crucial role in adapting proprietary organ and tissue-preservation devices to enhance donor eye viability for transplantation.
Meticulous donor eye selection, advanced ocular imaging, and specialized logistics in organ procurement and preservation will also be critical for success, and collaborators on this team are already the established leaders in these key areas of transplant science. In the end, tailored post-care rehabilitation for eye recipients will also be needed to set patients on the right track.
This research is, in part, funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the United States Government.
About the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine
The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine is recognized as an international leader in translating scientific discovery into clinical therapies, with many world firsts, including the development and implantation of the first engineered organ in a patient and the development of body-on-a-chip technologies using regenerative medicine strategies. Over 550 people at the institute, the largest in the world, work on more than 40 different tissues and organs. A number of the basic principles of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine were first developed at the institute. WFIRM researchers have successfully engineered replacement tissues and organs in all four categories – flat structures, tubular tissues, hollow organs, and solid organs – and 17 different applications of cell/tissue therapy technologies, such as skin, urethras, cartilage, bladders, muscle, kidney, and vaginal organs, have been successfully used in human patients. The institute, which is part of Wake Forest University, is located in the Innovation Quarter in downtown Winston-Salem, NC, and is driven by the urgent needs of patients. The institute is making a global difference in regenerative medicine through collaborations with over 500 entities and institutions worldwide, through its government, academic, and industry partnerships, its start-up entities, and through major initiatives in breakthrough technologies, such as tissue engineering, cell therapies, diagnostics, drug discovery, biomanufacturing, nanotechnology, gene editing and 3D printing. Learn more at WFIRM.org.
Media Contact: Stefanie Walling, Comm-WFIRM@wakehealth.edu