Treating Vision Loss with Stem Cells
An efficient new method of growing retinal cells from embryonic stem cells shows promise in treating degenerative eye diseases

SOURCE: "Efficient Generation of Retinal Progenitor Cells from Human Embryonic Stem Cells"
Deepak Lamba et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103(34): 12769-12774

RESULTS: Thomas Reh, at the University of Washington in Seattle, and his team have developed a reliable way to generate cells known as retinal progenitors, which have the ability to turn into any of the cell types found in the retina, such as photoreceptors or retinal ganglion cells. Preliminary results show that when the cells are transplanted into retinas either in a dish or in live lab animals, the cells migrate to different layers of the retina and begin to express proteins characteristic of the neighboring cells--including photo­receptors, which convert light into electrical signals.