Cambridge University scientists print new retinal cells

A group of scientists from University of Cambridge John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, the Institute for Manufacturing, Department of Engineering, Cambridge NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, and the Eye Department, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, has, for the first time, successfully printed two types of retinal cells from adult rats--ganglion cells and glial cells--using a piezoelectric inkjet printer, a type 3-D printing technique known as bioprinting. These two cells, while functioning to relay information from the eye to certain areas of the brain, support and protect the retinal neurons, the cones and rods. The research published on 17th December, 2013 in the journal Biofabrication showed that the printed retinal cells were able to retain their healthy growth and survival in culture

. The scientists who stated that the work was still preliminary hope to carry out more extensive research to perfect their findings, including extending the inkjet bioprinting technology to the light-sensitive photoreceptor cells of the retina responsible for sight, before beginning any human clinical trials that will aim to treat blindness resulting from damage to the nerve cells of the retina.