New nominations
Our PI professor Heli Skottman has been nominated as a vice president for European Association for Vision and Eye Research for 2024-2025. Next EVER conference will be arranged in Florence, Italy 8-11 October 2025.
EYE Regeneration group in EVER (European Association for Vision and Eye Research) conference in Valencia, Spain, 3 – 5 of November 2024
Our postdoctoral fellow Dr. Meri Vattulainen (currently postdoc at Linköping University, Sweden) will give a presentation about our research with title “Exploring heterogeneity in differentiating human pluripotent stem cell derived corneal limbal stem cells: Insight and potential solutions using single-cell RNA sequencing” in the EVER conference.
New publication from EYE Regeneration Group
We are happy to share our recent publication on modeling of a rare metabolic disease Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) using patient derived induced pluripotent stem cells. This study was conducted in collaboration with Hannu Uusitalo (Tampere University and Tays Eye Centre Tampere University Hospital), Pasi Nevalainen (Department of Internal Medicine Tampere University Hospital) and Suvi Väärämäki (Centre for Vascular Surgery and Interventional Radiology Tampere University Hospital and Tampere University). Publication is available in Journal of Opthalmology (https://doi.org/10.1155/2024/6939920).
EYE Regeneration group in Nordic Ophthalmology meeting (NOK) in Kuopio, Finland, 5 – 8 of August 2024
Our PI professor Heli Skottman will give a presentation about our research with tittle “Human pluripotent stem cell-based therapies for corneal blindness” in the Nordic Opthalmology meeting.
New publications from EYE Regeneration Group
We are happy to share our recent publications on corneal research: Vattulainen et al. performed single-cell RNA-sequencing to decipher the heterogeneity during differentiating of human pluripotent stem cells towards corneal limbal stem cells. The publication is a result from a collaboration with Department of Molecular Developmental Biology at Radboud University and Department of Human Genetics at Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and is now available in Stem Cells (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stemcr.2024.06.001). Kauppila et al. applied whole mount imunofluorescence on evaluating the effects of storage on tissue integrity and putative limbal stem cells in human and porcine corneas. The publication is now available in The Ocular Surface (https://doi.org/10.1093/stmcls/sxad067).
EYE Regeneration group in 7th TERMIS World Congress in Seattle, USA, 25 – 28 of June 2024
Our doctoral researcher Paula Puistola and researcher Suvi Huhtanen will attend Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (TERMIS) 7th World Congress in Seattle, USA. They are presenting our recent results in 3D bioprinting of cornea on Wednesday’s sessions, and the topics of their presentations are “Cornea-specific Human Adipose Stem Cell -derived Extracellular Matrix For Corneal Stroma Tissue Engineering” and “Multi-material 3D Bioprinting Of Human Stem Cell Based Corneal Structures With Stroma And Epithelium”.
EYE Regeneration group received funding from Sigrid Juselius Foundation
EYE Regeneration group received grant of 80 000 € from Sigrid Juselius Foundation for the 1st year of a 3-year project. The project focuses on developing new synergic treatment modality for corneal limbal stem cell deficiency from human pluripotent stem cell derived limbal stem cells.
New publications from EYE Regeneration group
We are happy to share our recent publications related to 3D bioprinting of cornea: Puistola et al. demonstrated the use of hASC-CSK derived ECM in 3D bioprinting of cornea-specific bioink, and the study is available in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.3c17803). Grönroos et al. demonstrated the 3D bioprinting of hPSC-CEnCs, and the study is available in Stem Cell Research and Therapy (https://doi.org/10.1186/s13287-024-03672-w).
EYE Regeneration Group received funding from The Finnish Research Impact Foundation
The project grant from The Finnish Research Impact Foundation is focusing on building a strong scientific foundation to cure blindness with stem cells and facilitating R&D efforts at the industry-academia interface. In the project, EYE Regeneration Group and industry partner StemSight Oy will work closely to refine a new innovative method to produce corneal endothelial cells from highly multipotent stem cells with grant of 272 551 €. Find out more here.
EYE Regeneration group received funding from Päivikki and Sakari Sohlberg Foundation
EYE Regeneration group received grant of 30 000 € from Päivikki and Sakari Sohlberg Foundation. The grant is for curing age-related corneal blindness with human stem cells –moving cell therapies from laboratory towards preclinical safety and efficacy studies.
EYE Regeneration group in The Future is Here: Gene Therapy, Cell Therapy, and Biomaterials in Opthalmology in Hyderabad, India, 18 – 20 of January, 2024
Our PI professor Heli Skottman will give two presentations about our research with titles “Development of pluripotent stem cell based therapies for limbal stem cell deficiency” and “Development of functional bioink platform and 3D bioprinting to cure corneal blindness” in the conference organized by L V Prasad Eye Institute.
New publication form EYE Regeneration group
We are happy to share our recent publication with the title “Novel strategy for multi-material 3D bioprinting of human stem cell based corneal stroma with heterogenous design“ by Puistola et al. The study is now available as online version in Materials Today Bio (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtbio.2023.100924).
The public examination of the doctoral dissertation of MSc Taina Viheriälä, 6th of October, 2023
The doctoral dissertation of our doctoral candidate MSc Taina Viheriälä in the field of cell technology titled “In Vitro Maturation and Functionality Assessment of Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Retinal Pigment Epithelium for Therapeutic Applications” will be publicly examined in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology of Tampere University at 12 o’clock on Friday 6th of October 2023 in auditorium F114 at Arvo building. The Opponent will be university lecturer Amanda Carr from University College London, UK. The Custos will be associate professor (tenure track) Soile Nymark from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology of Tampere University. Learn more (in Finnish)
EYE Regeneration group and Glue4Life team wins the pitching competition at HealthBIO 2023 Turku
Doctoral researcher Paula Puistola pitched our Research to Business case Glue4Life to business professionals and investors at HealthBIO 2023 Turku. We are happy to announce she and the team was awarded with 1st place.
Award news from EYE Regeneration group
We are happy to announce that Dr. Meri Vattulainen has been awarded with University of Tampere Foundation sr dissertation prize regarding her PhD thesis. Also our group leader Professor Heli Skottman received The Student Union of Tampere University (TREY) annually award for good teacher. This year, the special criterion for the Good Teacher prizes was commitment to teaching current themes and the development of teaching to meet current needs.
EYE Regeneration group in ESB Davos, 4 – 8 of September 2023
Our doctoral researcher Maija Kauppila will give a presentation on Tuesday, September 5, about our recent results regarding limbal in vitro modeling with the title “Towards corneal limbus in vitro model: regulation of hPSC-LSCs phenotype by matrix stiffness and topography during cell differentiation process“.
New publication from EYE Regeneration group
We are happy to share our recent publication related to the aniridia modeling using patient specific induced pluripotent stem cells. “Production and limbal lineage commitment of aniridia patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells” by Ilmarinen et al. demonstrates the production of induced pluripotent stem cells from three aniridia-associated kerathopathy patients and examined whether PAX6 haploinsufficiency affects LSC lineage commitment. The publication is now available as online version in Stem Cells (https://doi.org/10.1093/stmcls/sxad067).
New publication from EYE Regeneration group
We are happy to share our recent publication with the title “Toward Corneal Limbus In Vitro Model: Regulation of hPSC-LSC Phenotype by Matrix Stiffness and Topography During Cell Differentiation Process” by Kauppila et al. This study describes mechanobiological responses of selected hPSC-LSC subpopulations during their differentiation and is now available as online version in Advanced Healthcare Materials (https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.202301396).
EYE Regeneration group hosting ANIRIDIA-NET COST Action Training School, 5 – 9 of June, 2023
We enjoyed hosting ANIRIDIA-NET training school about topics on 3D bioprinting and deep phenotyping for eye research in Tampere during 5 – 9 of June. Learn more
EYE Regeneration group in the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) meeting in New Orleans, USA, 23 – 27 of April, 2023
We have four presentations in the meeting:
Our PI Heli Skottman presenting with a title “Functional assessment and xeno-grafting of human induced pluripotent stem cell-differentiated ABCG2-positive limbal stem cells in induced neutropenia mouse model with total limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD)“.
Our senior researcher Tanja Ilmarinen presenting with a title “Production and limbal lineage commitment of aniridia patient -derived induced pluripotent stem cells”.
Our postdoctoral researcher Meri Vattulainen presenting with a title “Functional assessment and xeno-grafting of human induced pluripotent stem cell-differentiated ABCG2-positive limbal stem cells in induced neutropenia mouse model with total limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD)“.
Our doctoral researcher Pyry Grönroos presenting with a title “Bioprinting of human pluripotent stem cell derived corneal endothelial cells with hydrazone crosslinked hyaluronic acid bioink“.
EYE Regeneration group in the TERMIS Americas 2023 Annual Conference in Boston, USA, 11 – 14 of April, 2023
Our senior researcher Anni Mörö and doctoral researcher Paula Puistola will be presenting our recent results in 3D bioprinting at TERMIS-AM 2023 in Boston, USA. Anni Mörö will give a presentation about the science behind our bioink on Thursday, April 13, with a title “Hyaluronic acid based next-generation bioink for 3D bioprinting of human tissues and 3D in vitro models”. Paula Puistola will pitch our Research-to-Business project Glue4Life in the Business Plan Competition on Wednesday, April 12.
EYE regeneration group in the XXVth biennial meeting of the International Society of Eye Research (ISER) in the Gold Coast, Australia, 19 – 23 of Februrary, 2023
Our PI professor Heli Skottman will give a presentation about our research related to corneal tissue engineering and 3D bioprinting with title “Human stem cell-based approaches for ocular surface disorders – from cells to 3D bioprinted corneal tissues“.
EYE regeneration group in 23rd EVER Congress in Valencia, 13 – 15 of October, 2022
Our PI professor Heli Skottman will give a presentation about our research related to the retinal pigment epithelial cells with the title “From biomimetic in vitro culture towards functional transplantation of hPSC-RPE”.
EYE regeneration group in ESB Bordeaux, 4 – 8 of September, 2022
Our doctoral researcher Paula Puistola will give a presentation about our latest research results in 3D bioprinting of cornea on Monday, 5 September 2022, at 11:30 at 32nd annual conference of the European Society for Biomaterials (ESB) in Bordeaux, France. The title of her speech is “Novel multi-filament approach for 3D bioprinting of human stem cell –based corneal stroma mimicking structures“.
The public examination of the doctoral dissertation of MSc Meri Vattulainen, 1st of July, 2022
The doctoral dissertation of our doctoral candidate MSc Meri Vattulainen in the field of cell technology titled “Human pluripotent stem cells for corneal applications” will be publicly examined in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology of Tampere University at 12 o’clock on Friday 1st of June 2022 in auditorium F115 at Arvo building. The Opponent will be professor Majlinda Lako from Newcastle University, England. The Custos will be our PI professor Heli Skottman from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology of Tampere University. Learn more (in Finnish)
EYE regeneration group in TERMIS-EU Krakow, 28 – 30 of June, 2022
Our postdoctoral researcher Anni Mörö will give a podium presentation about our latest research results in 3D bioprinting of cornea on Wednesday, 29 June 2022, at 11:20 at TERMIS-EU in Krakow. The title of her speech is “Hyaluronic acid based next-generation bioink for 3d bioprinting of a human stem cell derived corneal stroma equivalent and a 3D cornea tissue model with innervation.“
EYE regeneration group in Nordic Congress of Ophthalmology, Reykjavik, Iceland, 9 – 11 of June 2022
Our PI professor Heli Skottman will give a presentation about our recent results regarding corneal cell differentiation from pluripotent stem cells. The title of her talk is “Human pluripotent stem cell based innovation for limbal and endothelial transplantations”.
EYE regeneration group in 6th European Aniridia Conference in Alicante, Spain, 3 – 5 of June, 2022
Our PI professor Heli Skottman will give a presentation about our recent results regarding aniridia modeling with patient specific induced pluripotent stem cells. The title of her talk is ”iPSC as a tool for understanding aniridia-associated keratopathy”.
EYE regeneration group received Research-to-Business funding by Business Finland, 1st of January, 2022
The major funding is for exploring commercialization of the bioink developed in the Eye Regeneration group. The grant total is 550 000 €. The Reseach to Business funding from Business Finland is intended for public research organizations for projects in which research groups and researchers aim to develop their research into new business ideas and to commercialize their research results. Learn more