Home Department: Bioengineering
Mentor: David Myung (Ophthalmology)

“Engineered Nerve Guidance Conduits to Aid in Eye Transplantation"

Blindness and severe visual impairment affect 43 million people globally, with no effective treatments using today’s medical procedures. Eye transplants could be a promising way to restore eyesight capabilities to individuals through connecting the nerve endings between a donor eye and the optic nerve to the brain. This connection is difficult to make. Alyssa’s project will develop nerve guidance conduits as an avenue for the creation of a functional optic nerve connection for whole eye transplantation. In addition, Alyssa will test the hypothesis that the presence of resorbable microneedles on the ends of the conduit will enhance nerve regeneration.