"The results are really encouraging," says Prof Coffey. "We plan to do the first patient within three years."
Using surgical instruments introduced through three one millimetre holes in the eye, the team goes under the retina, a translucent layer, then inflate it so it separates from the underlying cells.
The human eye cells derived from embryonic cells were then introduced on a rolled up patch and injected through a one millimetre hole, where the patch of human cells unfolded under the retina.
"I was over the moon when I got the results because it is a proof of concept," says Prof Coffey. "We really can do it."
Although the implanted human cells are black, the same as the surrounding pig cells, they can be distinguished when light of a given colour is shone into the eye. The human cells glowed when viewed this way under the gaze of an instrument called a scanning laser opthalmoscope. "That indicates good function," says Prof Coffey.
The operation on three sighted pigs took only 30 minutes, suggesting the stem cell implants could eventually become a routine outpatient operation, they told an event backed by the company Mostra at the Globe Theatre to promote the London Project to Cure Blindness - a scientific initiative between UCL, Moorfields and The University of Sheffield.
Pigs raise hopes for blindness cure - Telegraph
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