Description du projet
Des implants en soie, une vision pour des millions de personnes
Les vers à soie produisent une matière fibreuse pour former leurs cocons. Les fibres ont longtemps été utilisées dans la fabrication de tissus en soie pour les vêtements de luxe. Plus récemment, les polymères protéiques souples des cocons ont été exploités pour servir dans des applications biomédicales. En plus de sa biocompatibilité, de son élasticité et de sa force structurelle, la fibroïne de soie offre de la transparence, de la perméabilité et un indice de réfraction qui en font un produit particulièrement attractif pour une utilisation dans l’œil. SILK-EYE innove dans le développement d’implants cornéens et de lentilles de prochaine génération exploitant ces caractéristiques. L’équipe envisage de fournir des solutions plus efficaces, sûres et abordables pour traiter le nombre accru de maladies et affections touchant la vue dans le monde. Préparez-vous pour votre prochain ensemble en soie: foulard et lentilles accommodatives.
Objectif
Prevalent eye diseases, such as myopia, presbyopia, and corneal disease affect millions worldwide, but for now cannot be prevented. Surgical interventions of these conditions are turning to additive surgery, exemplified by corneal implants or the replacement of the natural crystalline lens by (or addition of) an intraocular lens, as it reduces complications of tissue removal surgeries.
Current eye treatments involving adding tissue or lenses exist in the form of amnion bandages, corneal inlays, and intraocular lenses. However, those approaches suffer from a number of shortcomings: corneal haze or rejection; risk of disease transmission, short lifespan, need of cryopreservation and donor tissue; lack of compliance of lens designs and biomaterials. In particular, no material has been found that fully meets the requirements for mechanical properties, transparency, biocompatibility and versatility for applications in the cornea and in accommodating intraocular lenses.
In recent years, silk fibroin derived from silkworm cocoons has emerged as a protein polymer for biomaterial applications. SILK-EYE will develop a new generation of corneal and intraocular implants, using silk-based materials tuned to each specific application and light enabling procedure. The silk-based implants will feature both the accessibility advantages of synthetic materials and the structural and biocompatibility properties of allografts, capitalizing on silk’s unique potential for transparency, controllable stiffness and degradability, refractive index and permeability, and their potential for light-induced cross-linking and bonding in the eye. SILK-EYE will design radically novel corneal dressings and implants, and accommodating intraocular lenses that are more biocompatible and functional than current synthetic implants, and are safer, more tunable, accessible and affordable than donor allografts, potentially revolutionizing how the major corrective procedures in ophthalmology are performed.
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ERC-ADG - Advanced GrantInstitution d’accueil
28006 Madrid
Espagne