Page 3 - Summer 2020 Newsletter

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Tissue prepared for DMEK surgery with and without Hansen Hinges. Scrolls are from the right and left eye of a51-year- old donor.
Hansen Hinges
Research and Innovation – LGS Watchwords
Ching Yuan, Ph.D.
In 2019, Lions Gift of Sight established a dedicated Research and Development department, formalizing the support the organization has always given to efforts that improve lives through research and innovation. Dr. Ching Yuan, a scientist well published in the
field of corneal wound healing and limbal stem cell research, heads this department. Dr. Yuan shared some
highlights of what he, his dynamic staff, and eye bank medical director, Joshua Hou, M.D., have recently achieved.
Hansen Hinges: A technique developed in-house by Dr. Hou and Mark Hansen, M.D. Tissue can now be prepared with “Hansen Hinges,” a pair of small relaxing incisions added to a Descemet’s Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty (DMEK) graft. These incisions encourage the graft to form a triple scroll shape with a wide unrolled triangular central area. Studies have shown that the triple scroll makes the unscrolling of DMEK tissue (widely considered the most difficult part of DMEK surgery) easier for surgeons and can thus reduce time that patients and surgeons spend in the operating room.
MNSert®: MNSert® is a method to load a peeled, dye-stained DMEK cornea into an inserter, making it ready for the surgeon to use “out of the box.” MNSert®tissue saves an average of 10-15 minutes of graft-preparation time in the operating room, ensures healthy graft tissue after placement in the inserter, and decreases the chance of final graft separation.
COVID-19 Study: Lions Gift of Sight is conducting an in situ infection study
to test whether SARS-CoV-2 can infect ocular cells and transmit COVID-19 via donor tissues. The results of this study will have ramifications for eye banking for years to come.
At Lions Gift of Sight, we believe that research will benefit future generations of eye patients. Thank you for being a part of that future.
Deborah Ferrington, Ph.D., a world class scientist in the field of age-related macular degeneration, has partnered with Lions Gift of Sight for more than 20 years.
“The quality of Lions Gift of
Sight eye tissue and service
has been a major factor for the
success of our research.”
— Michael P. Fautsch, Ph.D., Associate Professor & Research Chair Department of Ophthalmology Mayo Clinic
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