LambdaVision Wins NASA Award to Further Advance Development of an Artificial Retina to Help Patients Regain Sight
LambdaVision, an innovative biotech developing a novel treatment to help patients regain sight, along with implementation partner, Space Tango, has been selected by NASA for an award of five million dollars. This new funding will support LambdaVision’s development of the first protein-based artificial retina to restore meaningful vision for patients who are blind or have lost significant sight due to advanced retinitis pigmentosa (RP), with follow-on applications in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness for adults over 55 years old. As part of this award, the company, together with Space Tango, will explore the benefits of microgravity for producing LambdaVision’s artificial retina on the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory located in low-Earth orbit (LEO).
“As we explore the seemingly immense ways in which microgravity can benefit the development and production of a wide range of products, our long-term collaboration with LambdaVision continues to provide us with valuable learnings that might one day help some patients regain sight and may also lead to other important production discoveries,” said Twyman Clements, co-founder and chief executive officer, Space Tango.
The contract will cover a series of flights to the ISS over three years to evaluate and improve on-orbit production processes, and to produce artificial retinas that will then be evaluated on Earth for the potential to restore vision to patients suffering from retinal degenerative diseases.
Read the full press release here.
Source: LambdaVision
