Prof Keith Martin and Dr Barbara Lorber, John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, are part of a team who have successfully printed eye cells for the first time, potentially paving the way for revolutionary treatments for sight loss.

Preliminary results show that inkjet printing technology can be used to print the cells responsible for transmitting information from the eye to certain parts of the brain. Animal cells were used for the proof-of-principle work, and it is thought this could lead to the production of artificial tissue grafts made from cells of the human retina. Says Dr Lorber, “Our study has shown, for the first time, that cells derived from the mature central nervous system, the eye, can be printed. Although much more work is required, the aim is to develop this technology for use in retinal repair in the future.”

Read the full paper in Biofabrication