The Eye-Bank for Sight Restoration is equipped with a state-of-the-art Ocular Laboratory and has an in-house research team dedicated to helping advance the development of new treatments and cures for blinding eye diseases and supporting important research into the effects certain conditions have on ocular cells.
This work is led by The Eye-Bank’s Research and Relationship Development Manager YoneJung “YJ” Yoon, PhD, and includes culturing adult human retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. The Eye-Bank’s RPE Project, which began in 2020, involves culturing specific eye donor cells and making them available to researchers for use in developing possible treatments for diseases of the retina—diseases that currently have no cure, such as Age-Related Macular Degeneration. Recovering and culturing RPE cells is an extremely delicate, specialized process. “There’s a narrow time window to recover retinal pigmented epithelial cells” says Yoon. “But The Eye-Bank lab techs recover tissue very quickly, and we are able to culture them successfully because we have the necessary equipment and resources right here in our facility.”
In addition to expanding The Eye-Bank’s RPE Project, Yoon has grown our network of partner researchers whom she keeps up to date with current news in eye banking and reaches out to other scientists who might be interested in using ocular tissue and primary ocular cells for their research projects. “It is important to keep up with the published literature in order to identify trends and prepare project presentations, find new opportunities for research tissue, and develop protocols for future research practices.”
Yoon received her Master’s degree in the field of neurodegeneration related to stroke from Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea and her PhD in Biology from the University of Vermont. Before joining The Eye-Bank in 2023, her research background focused on neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer disease, vascular dementia and Parkinson’s Disease. Now, she establishes and develops collaborations between our organization and leading ophthalmological researchers and supervises The Eye-Bank’s own research.
Researchers interested in obtaining donor eye tissue can place orders directly through our website or call us at 212-742-9000.