Eye for an eye: Start-up bio-engineers cornea tissue for vision restoration

Pandorum Technologies, a biotech start-up, said it has developed a bio-engineered cornea tissue that can promote scarless healing of corneal wounds through bio-inspired regenerative approach. 

Scientists at Pandorum have successfully formulated a novel hydrogel that can encapsulate and deliver corneal stem cells to the wound site, to stimulate scarless regeneration. 

Pandorum’s cell laden hydrogel can be directly applied in a minimally invasive manner as ‘Liquid Cornea’ to corneal wounds and perforations, and can also be 3D bio-printed as corneal lenticules for lamellar keratoplasty, a surgical procedure.

“Being able to bio-engineer critical tissues such as the human cornea is a significant milestone,” said Tuhin Bhowmick, co-founder and Director of Pandorum, who holds a PhD from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru. 

The city-based Pandorum said their research study was presented at the prestigious annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO-2019) held in Vancouver. 

“We are excited about our potential to impact millions of lives,” said Arun Chandru, co-founder and Director of Pandorum. 

The company is backed by investors such as Flipkart co-founders Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal, Sunil Munjal, T K Kurien, Indian Angel Network, Karnataka Information Technology Venture Capital and Kotak Investment Advisors.

Corneal disorders are one of the major causes of blindness worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Though surgically replacing the opaque tissue with a clear corneal allograft is usually effective in improving vision, there is an acute shortage of cadaveric human corneas available for transplantation. 

In India alone, there are over a million people suffering from bilateral loss of vision due to corneal disorders, and at least a few folds more from unilateral corneal blindness. 

“At Pandorum, we are working to close this gap using bio-engineering approach- through stage-wise development of a platform, which is ultimately aimed to liberate us from the dependencies on human donor cornea,” said Bhowmick, an alumnus of European Molecular Biology Labs (EMBL).

Pandorum is developing these bio-engineered cornea tissues in collaboration with the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI). Cornea surgeons Virender Sangwan and Sayan Basu, and scientist Vivek Singh, at LVPEI, have been playing a crucial role in translation of this technology. 

Pre-clinical studies involving clinically relevant corneal wound models in rabbits are presently underway. “The technology can be a game changer in the field of regenerative treatment of corneal wounds, after the safety and efficacy have been successfully established,” said Singh.

Pandorum was founded by a group of friends in 2011 who were pursuing their higher studies at IISc. They came together to work on the development of artificial human organs after winning a business competition. 

Analysts estimate that the global tissue engineering market is projected to reach $94 billion by 2024, up from $23 billion in 2015.  

In April this year, scientists at Tel Aviv University in Israel said that they have created world’s first 3-D printed heart complete with blood vessels, using human tissue. The scientists hope larger human hearts could be produced using the same technology in future.