A team of researchers from multiple institutions, including two engineers from Northwestern University, has been awarded up to $56 million by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). The funding is intended to support efforts in making whole-eye transplants a reality.
The project will focus on developing and testing strategies under the Viability, Imaging, Surgical, Immunomodulation, Ocular preservation and Neuroregeneration (VISION) framework. Northwestern's Hao F. Zhang and Cheng Sun are involved in designing a new generation of visible-light optical coherence tomography (vis-OCT), which is an imaging technology developed at Northwestern. This technology will be used to assess the suitability of donor eyeballs for transplantation.
"Supporting ARPA-H’s ambitious goal with our unique retinal imaging technology brings a unique benefit to Northwestern investigators to translate advanced imaging technologies developed at Northwestern labs to potentially improve patients’ lives," said Zhang. "Close collaboration with team members across the nation will also lead to new and exciting technical innovations."
Zhang is a professor at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering, specializing in optical coherence imaging. He leads the Functional Optical Imaging Laboratory and founded the Center of Engineering for Vision and Ophthalmology. Sun is a mechanical engineering professor focusing on 3D-printing techniques for biomedical applications.
The VISION initiative is part of ARPA-H’s Transplantation of Human Eye Allografts (THEA) program aimed at advancing nerve reconnection to the brain and achieving breakthroughs in transplantation and neuroscience. The VISION team comprises 40 scientists, medical doctors, and industry experts from across the United States working on medical devices, artificial intelligence integrations, surgical techniques, generative medicine breakthroughs, and transplant rejection mitigations.
While corneal transplants are common in ophthalmology with over 70,000 donations annually in the U.S., they do not address irreversible vision loss due to retinal neurodegeneration caused by diseases like glaucoma or macular degeneration. THEA aims to tackle these issues by regenerating functional optic nerves that connect eyes to brains.
"This group of people has been working for decades now on figuring out how to promote optic nerve regeneration and retinal neuron survival in glaucoma and other blinding diseases," said Dr. Jeffrey Goldberg from Stanford University who leads this grant effort as principal investigator.
The project's ultimate aim is whole-eye transplants but it may lead toward various technological advancements along its path.
"As we develop a series of new technologies that could be vision restorative in THEA...we’ll leverage all proper channels ensuring accessibility," Goldberg added.