Researchers at the University of Granada have made progress toward bioartificial organs by extracting pig corneal cells and replacing them with human stem cells. This method, known as decellularization and recellulation, allows scientists to maintain the basic structure of the cornea and replace its cellular components. The research group is composed of professors Antonio Campos and Miguel Alaminos (histologists), María del Mar Pérez, Ana Ionescu and Juan de la Cruz Cardona (opticians) and the ophthalmologist Miguel González Andrades, University Hospital San Cecilio, Granada. Their results are published online in the research journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. The University of Granada researchers belong to the same research group that made an artificial cornea with biomaterials designed at the Tissue Engineering Laboratory of the University of Granada, which is currently on the preparatory stage to start a clinical trial. At present, the authors of this study are promoting the establishment of an Institute for Tissue Engineering in Granada, which is currently on the feasibility and design phase.
Science Daily
May 3, 2011
Original web page at Science Daily