The National Eye Institute (NEI) award continues as Einstein lead researcher Dr. Wei Liu, PhD and team for their remarkable advancements in the development of a living model of the human retina. The prize money was awarded for the first two phases of the NEI 3D Retina Organoid Challenge, which is a national initiative to sponsor research to create an artificial retina tissue model to help test possible cures for potentially blinding retinal diseases. The Einstein lab was able to produce research grade mini retinas with cone photoreceptors similar to the human macula, the area of the retina responsible for color vision and fine detail discrimination. The development of this artificial retinal tissue aims to allow researchers to test therapeutic agents to treat blinding conditions such as Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), and Lebers Congential Amaurosis (LCA).

https://www.nei.nih.gov/about/news-and-events/news/nei-awards-prize-progress-toward-developing-lab-made-retinas