The National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health, is seeking in vitro, stem-cell-derived 3-D human retina organoids. The goal of the challenge is to generate concrete prototypes of 3-D systems that model the cellular organization and function of the human retina.
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NEI is seeking innovative solutions that achieve significant advances over currently available retina organoids. Solutions must show publication-quality data demonstrating:
- A 3-D human retina organoid system that mimics the physiological and morphological features of the in vivo biology, consists of the major retina cell types (rod and cone photoreceptors, horizontal, bipolar, amacrine, and ganglion cells and Muller glia) with appropriate lamination and synaptic organization, and represents their biological functions and interplay.
- Retina organoids that are generated entirely from human cells (e.g. derived from iPSCs, hESCs, multipotent cells, or adult cells subjected to a combination of transdifferentiation/reprogramming methods).
- Modelling and treating retinal disease, or testing and developing drug (i.e., high content screening) therapies.
Submission to this Challenge must be received by 2:00 pm ET, June 1, 2022.
Source: Herox