# @harvard on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DJj-an9uZ9s
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/30495800-harvard-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/e4c735112a.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-05-12T17:36:07.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Harvard University (@harvard) — https://gondola.cc/harvard

## Caption

A new stem cell treatment shows promise for people who have suffered a cornea injury, such as a chemical burn, infection, or other trauma.

The cornea is the clear, outermost layer of the eye. People with cornea injuries often experience persistent pain and visual difficulties. These injuries can deplete the limbal epithelial cells, which can never regenerate. Without limbal stem cells, the surface of the eye can’t heal, and the permanently damaged surface can’t undergo a corneal transplant, the current standard of care for vision rehabilitation.

The new innovative procedure—called cultivated autologous limbal epithelial cell (CALEC) transplantation—consists of removing stem cells from a healthy eye with a biopsy, expanding them into a cellular tissue graft in a novel manufacturing process that takes two to three weeks, and then surgically transplanting the graft into the eye with a damaged cornea.

“Our first trial in four patients showed that CALEC was safe and the treatment was possible,” said Ula Jurkunas, associate director of the Cornea Service at Mass Eye and Ear and professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. “Now we have this new data supporting that CALEC is more than 90% effective at restoring the cornea’s surface, which makes a meaningful difference in individuals with cornea damage that was considered untreatable.”

The trial was the first human study of a stem cell therapy to be funded by the National Eye Institute, a part of the National Institutes of Health, and was the first stem cell therapy in the eye in the U.S.

#HarvardMed #Research #Harvard 

Photo: John Earle Photography

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 4,101
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 29

## Tags

research, harvard, harvardmed

---
Copyright (c) Gondola