A device that revives eyeballs from dead donors could make eye transplants possible

Researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation have developed a device called the Eye-in-a-Care-Box (ECaBox) that uses perfusion to keep donor eyes viable outside the body. By delivering oxygen-rich fluid through the eye's artery, the device significantly slows degeneration compared to untreated eyes. Tests on pig eyes showed that perfused eyes regained the ability to respond to light after about 15 minutes, with some maintaining that ability for over 10 hours. Human donor eyes treated in the device also showed better retinal preservation. The team hopes the ECaBox could eventually enable viable whole-eye transplants and serve as a research platform that reduces animal experimentation. The work is currently available as an unreviewed preprint.

Source: https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/07/03/1140148/a-device-that-revives-eyeballs-from-dead-donors-could-make-eye-transplants-possible. 8 Sync News only summarizes and links out; content copyright belongs to the authors and original sources.