UCL LUNCH HOUR LECTURES

Professor Pete Coffey – UCL Institute of Ophthalmology

The London Project to Cure Blindness aims to make the most of human embryonic stem cells to prevent blindness, restore sight, and improve quality of life in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) within five years from the initiation of the programme (2007). Our goal is to replace cells essential for “seeing” lost by disease at the back of the eye. We aim to repair and regenerate the aged diseased eye using human embryonic stem cells which have been transformed into the cells affected in AMD: the support cells for the photoreceptors (retinal pigment epithelium) and the photoreceptors. The cells will be surgically implanted into a clinical population of AMD patients.