Aravind Eye Care System (AECS) is an umbrella organization comprising of components which include clinical care (Aravind Eye Hospitals), training (Lions Aravind Institute of Community Ophthalmology), research (Aravind Medical Research Foundation) and manufacturing (Aurolab). AECS aims to integrate all these diversified components to achieve its mission of eradicating needless blindness globally.

One of the major areas of translational research at our institute is corneal surface reconstruction. The stem cells for the corneal epithelium are partially/totally lost due to injury or autoimmune disease which leads to loss of vision. We have been successful in developing the specific and simple methods to culture biopsy from limbal or buccal mucosal epithelium of the same patients who do not have vision either in one or both eyes due to corneal damage. Such bench to bedside translation requires specialized facility and training to expand the specific stem cells ex-vivo.

Lack of a single marker specific to corneal epithelial stem cells made us to come-up with a combination of two parameters to identify and quantify corneal/buccal epithelial stem cells, which is essential in validating the cultured epithelium used for transplantation. Further, a Class 1000 GMP facility for culturing limbal/buccal epithelial stem cells has been established at our institute

Young Scientists and Research Scholars working in the eye/army hospitals, research institutes and industrial setup.

Date
25-31 Oct, 2010

Venue
Lions Aravind Institute of Community Ophthalmology (LAICO)
Aravind Medical Research Foundation (AMRF)
Aravind Eye Hospital - Madurai

Download broucher: Stemcell Portrait