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MIT's Technology Review reports that researchers from the University of California-Irvine have created a three-dimensional, retina-like structure out of human embryonic stem cells that they hope could someday serve as a retinal transplant for people with macular degeneration and other diseases of the retina.

Their method, published recently in Journal of Neuroscience Methods, offers a potential new source of cells for retinal transplants. Specifically, the scientists created two types of cells from the human embryonic stem cells: early-stage retinal cells, and retinal pigment epithelium cells, which provide nourishment to the cells responsible for vision in the retina.

Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer at Advanced Cell Technologies, who was not involved in the study, says that his team discovered several years ago that, when turning human embryonic stem cells into RPE cells, other stem cells would spontaneously form layers, including patches of photoreceptors.

Posted in: Embryonic stem cell, Health, Macular Degeneration, Retina