News

March 30, 2023

Position Description:
The Clegg Laboratory in the Neuroscience Research Institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara invites applications for a part-time (37%) Academic Coordinator II (Mentorship Facilitator) position. The Mentorship Facilitator appointee will design and execute a Mentoring Program to ensure all CIRM EDUC5 COMPASS trainees receive customized, appropriate, and meaningful mentorship throughout their time in the program.

Duties include:

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Close-up image of an eye
March 28, 2022

Earlier this year we wrote about the promising results of a phase 1 clinical trial aimed at replacing the deteriorating cells in the retinas of people suffering from age-related macular degeneration- one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide for people over 50. Now there’s even more good news! Highlighted in a news story on the UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) website, researchers are continuing to make progress in their bid to secure approval from the Food and Drug Administration for the life-changing treatment.

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Close-up image an eye
March 15, 2022

Stem cell-derived retinal patch is shown to survive two years post-implantation, function without triggering immune rejection

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Photo of retinal implant
February 11, 2022

When Anna Kuehl began losing her vision, she feared losing the ability to read and go on long walks in nature—two of her favorite pastimes. Anna had been diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of vision loss in the US. She lost the central vision in her left eye, which meant she could no longer make out people’s faces clearly, drive a car, or read the time on her watch.

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Close up image of person's left eye
February 03, 2022

Doctors and biomedical engineers who implant cells and tissues into patients to restore motion or eyesight have long been challenged by potential rejection of the implant by the patient’s own immune system.

Now, newly published data from USC has shown a stem-cell derived implant designed to improve vision for patients suffering from age-related macular degeneration — one of the most common forms of blindness in adults over 40 — can safely be inserted into the eye and without the need for long-term immunosuppressants.

Full article in the link below.

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retinal scan in patient with wet age related macular degeneration
April 26, 2019

For people who have relied on good eyesight for the first six or seven decades of their lives, the diagnosis of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is devastating. This disease, which currently has no cure, can severely limit central vision and, in many cases, may culminate in legal blindness (unable to see the Big E on the eye chart; vision less than 20/200). Early results from two new stem-cell trials, however, suggest that this type of treatment may be able to restore sight in people with both the dry and wet forms of AMD. 

 

Full article in the link below.

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October 30, 2018

Few people will have the same high-profile chance to influence the world as directly as James Thomson. Most people will never see their names printed in textbooks or see their work have an influence on politics.

This was the case for Thomson, who made news around the world in Nov. 1998 when he and his team became the first to derive human stem cells from an embryo. Thomson said that he didn’t have time to revel in his accomplishment.

Full article in the link below.

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April 05, 2018

A UC Santa Barbara collaboration publishes its clinical trial preliminary findings for a bioengineered retinal pigment epithelial monolayer for advanced, dry age-related macular degeneration. Non-neovascular age-related macular degeneration (NNAMD) is a progressive blinding disease primarily due to loss of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) of the eye. Currently, there is no effective treatment for NNAMD. Now, Kashani and colleagues have developed a clinical-grade retinal implant made of human embryonic stem cell (hESC)–derived RPE grown on a synthetic substrate. In a first-in-human phase 1 clinical trial in five patients with advanced NNAMD, the implant was shown to be safe and well tolerated. Preliminary results reported potential therapeutic effects on visual acuity, suggesting that this approach might be useful for treating retinal disorders involving RPE loss.

The paper is featured as the cover story of Science Translational Medicine April 2018, link below. 

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April 05, 2018

A team of doctors, engineers and scientists — including UC Santa Barbara stem cell researchers Dennis Clegg, Lincoln Johnson, Sherry Hikita and Britney Pennington — has published the preliminary results of a first-in-human clinical trial for dry AMD. Four patients received implants consisting of human embryonic stem cell-derived retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), which support light-sensitive photoreceptor cells critical to vision. The phase 1/2A trial, led by Dr. Amir Kashani, is being conducted at the University of Southern California Roski Eye Institute at the campus’s Keck School of Medicine. 

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A section through a stem-cell derived retina from Mariya Moosajee’s team lights up under modern imaging techniques. Mariya Moosajee/UCL
November 20, 2017

This is the first story in a partnership between the Wellcome Trust and WikiTribune to publish evidence-based science reports which are open to editing and discussion from the WikiTribune community.  

For eye specialist Francesca Cordeiro, eyes are a window onto people’s brains – a window that looks onto the prospect of stopping and even reversing blinding conditions.

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