Fighting corneal blindness: the STEM-CORE project kicks off
Anna Roig participates in an EU-funded Doctoral Network that will train 14 PhDs throughout Europe, one of them at ICMAB
Corneal disease is the fourth leading cause of blindness worldwide, and current treatments are often costly and inaccessible. Now, ICMAB researcher Anna Roig (Nanoparticles and Nanocomposites Group) participates in STEM-CORE, an EU-funded project that kicked off on January 26 and aims to change this by developing innovative regenerative stem cell therapies and by training the next generation of experts in ocular medicine.
STEM-CORE is a European network under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme. Coordinated by Radboud University (Nijmegen, the Netherlands), it comprises 11 consortium members from 9 countries.
This project is a doctoral network comprising 14 PhD candidates working towards a common final aim by bringing together complementary fields of expertise. The PhD fellow working under Anna Roig will develop bioactive biobased hydrogels for corneal (stem) cell culture as an animal-free cell scaffold. They will also benefit from internships in other consortium labs.
Restoring sight through science
Our ability to see depends on the health of the cornea, the transparent layer at the front of the eye. When its natural repair system, based on limbal stem cells, fails due to injury, infection or genetic conditions, vision loss can become permanent. In Europe alone, more than 30 million people live with severe vision problems, costing healthcare systems up to €60 billion annually.
Current treatments for corneal blindness are limited and expensive, leaving many patients without effective solutions. STEM-CORE seeks to address this gap by developing therapies based on laboratory-grown stem cells and advanced biomaterials. Using induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC), researchers can create corneal stem cells suitable for a wide range of patients, making treatments more accessible and affordable.
