The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) — a federal funding agency that supports high-impact research capable of driving biomedical and health breakthroughs — has awarded up to $47 million for a project aimed at moving eye transplants to restore vision closer to reality.

The USC Roski Eye Institute at the Keck School of Medicine of USC is one of eight organizations leading the project, known as Total Human Eye-allotransplantation Innovation Advancement (THEIA). The team, led by Kia Washington, MD at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, includes Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, the Foundation Fighting Blindness, Indiana University, Johns Hopkins University, the National Eye Institute and the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

The project’s research strategy includes components aimed at preserving donated eyes to ensure they are viable for transplant, attaching and repairing the optic nerve, and determining the logistical and technical details of the whole procedure through post-operative care. The approach to pursuing this project encompasses cutting-edge technologies, including cell-based and gene-based therapies, as well as devices for augmenting activity in nerves that USC’s team will direct.

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