News Releases & Research Results Development of a method for producing conjunctival epithelium from iPS cells - Novel technology to accelerate drug discovery and regenerative medicine for eye diseases -

The results of research conducted by Endowed Chair Ryuhei Hayashi of the Department of Stem Cells and Applied Medicine, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Professor Kohji Nishida of the Department of Ophthalmology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine/Integrated Frontier Research for Medical Science Division, Institute for Open and Transdisciplinary Research Initiatives, Osaka University, and Specially Appointed Researcher Kimihito Nomi of the Department of Ophthalmology /Department of Stem Cells and Applied Medicine, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine.

• Conjunctival cells could be selectively induced by activating EGF receptor signals using two-dimensional eye organoids derived from human iPS cells.
• The results of this research should allow the bulk production of human conjunctival cells, which has been difficult, and markedly facilitate drug discovery and regenerative medicine for dry eye disease.

This project was conducted with the support of the Advanced Research and Development Programs for Medical Innovation (AMED-CREST) by AMED.

The results were published in American scientific journal Cell Reports on February 2.

Nomi K., et al. Generation of functional conjunctival epithelium, including goblet cells, from human iPSCs Cell Reports
DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.108715