Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health awards research grants to fast track whole eye transplants
The Foundation has assembled a multidisciplinary team of leading scientists, researchers, and physicians from multiple institutions, all focused on accelerating convergent technologies.
(Image credit: AdobeStock/nfsphoto)
The Foundation Fighting Blindness today announced that the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services, has awarded up to $46 million to the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, the Foundation, and 6 other research groups. This funding will support research and innovation in vision-restoring human whole eye transplantation.
The Foundation has assembled a multidisciplinary team of leading scientists, researchers, and physicians from multiple institutions, all focused on accelerating convergent technologies to fulfill ARPA-H’s goal: to cure blindness within 6 years.
According to a Foundation Fighting Blindness news release, the consortium, led by the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (the prime recipient of the award), includes Johns Hopkins University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Indiana University School of Medicine, the University of Southern California, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and the National Eye Institute.1
The federal program, known as THEA (Total Human Eye Allotransplantation Advancement), was established by ARPA-H’s Health Science Futures Office to advance a combination of medical, therapeutic, and surgical technologies aimed at making whole eye transplantation a viable cure for blindness caused by ocular diseases or damage.
The Foundation has been pivotal in advancing treatments and cures for blinding diseases, raising more than $954 million to fund cutting-edge research and launching over 45 clinical trials for potential treatments.
In this new initiative, the Foundation will play a strategic coordinating role, ensuring that progress remains aligned with program goals and requirements. Chad Jackson, PhD, the Foundation’s senior director of the Preclinical Translational Research Program, will oversee the 6-year project.1
Jackson pointed out that while vision-restoring whole eye transplantation holds tremendous potential, there are still significant technical and biological hurdles that must be cleared before it can become a viable clinical reality, most notably the challenge of regenerating nerve cells and re-establishing vision signal connectivity in a grafted optic nerve.
“Our team has assembled sub-groups of experts in their respective fields to best position us to achieve ARPA-H’s mission,” Jackson said. “By working in tandem teams on developing therapies and technologies to overcome current limitations in donor eye preservation, optic nerve regeneration, surgical techniques and post-operation strategies, we’ll accelerate progress and bring whole eye replacement closer to clinical application. I look forward to kicking off the project and collaborating with such a talented and passionate team.”
The program will be led by principal investigator Kia Washington, MD, a clinician, scientist and professor in the department of surgery at the University of Colorado (CU) Anschutz Medical Campus. Washington is leading groundbreaking research at CU in eye transplantation and vision restoration, building on deep research and surgical experience in facial and eye transplantation.
Washington pointed out in a news release the potential of whole eye transplantation is truly revolutionary.
“Despite advancements in facial and eye transplantation, whole eye transplantation has yet to achieve successful vision restoration,’ Washington said. “I’m thrilled to be part of the team working to advance progress toward making human whole eye transplantation as a cure for blindness a reality.”
The primary goal of ARPA-H’s THEA program is to build on recent advancements in medicine, cell therapies, and surgical techniques to regenerate retinal and optic nerve cells and restore their connectivity to the brain, ultimately enabling functional vision. Additional objectives include improving tissue harvest and preservation, optimizing optic nerve reattachment and repair technologies, and advancing surgical strategies, postoperative care, and ocular health assessment tools.1
“On behalf of the board and the Foundation, I extend my gratitude to ARPA-H and this multi-institutional team for the opportunity to continue our work of advancing the most promising research and technologies to cure blindness,” Karen Petrou, chair of the Foundation Fighting Blindness board, said in the news release. “We are closer than ever to realizing the potential of vision restoration, and as a person impacted by a blinding retinal disease, I look forward to recovery of my vision through breakthroughs achieved in the THEA program.”
Jason Menzo, CEO of the Foundation Fighting Blindness, said the organization is committed to changing what we think is possible for people impacted by vision loss by pursuing research and development programs with the potential to be life changing.
“This project has tremendous potential to solve barriers to seeing through another’s transplanted eyes and revolutionize how we approach and treat blindness,” he concluded. “Furthermore, we anticipate implications of our work will bring a seismic change in medical capabilities to benefit millions beyond blindness and inform future innovations and advancements in medicine.”
