CCMB to make artificial cornea

Hyderabad: The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), a premier research organisation engaged in frontier areas of modern biology, is confident of achieving a breakthrough in making artificial corneas in next

4-5 years, which they claim will put end to eye donations and serve as a boon for cataract patients.

According to Dr Ch Mohan Rao, Director, CCMB two layers of the cornea have already been developed and the remaining part, which is crux of the cornea, will take substantial time and the success of the project may see an end of eye donation era in the country.

"We believe it should be possible. My rough estimate is in 4-5 years. If this project is successful there is no question of eye donation. We will be able to make artificial corneas in large numbers," Dr Mohan Rao told PTI.

The project which could be major achievement in medical history, and if successful may become boon for millions of cataract patients, waiting for cornea donors for the replacement, he said.

Presently, doctors are using an intra-ocular lens (an implanted lens) in the eye, usually replacing the existing crystalline lens which has been clouded over by a cataract.

It usually consists of a small plastic lens with plastic side struts to hold the lens in place.

Explaining the project, Rao said they cannot make cornea in plastic due to its shape.

"We can develop endothelium cell and artificially produce the whole cornea in a laboratory. The cornea is multi-layered.

So actually we have to build a composite structure. This is not an easy thing. Everybody in the world is trying to see if it is possible," he said.