Award Winner Discusses Potential of Retinal Organoids

In a guest blog post – Dr Owen Jones, reflects on his work developing and applying human stem cell–derived retinal organoid models for disease research and therapeutic discovery. Amsbio is delighted to have played a supporting role in Dr Jones scientific endeavors.

Robust and biologically relevant models are essential for understanding human disease. Millions of people worldwide are affected by retinal disease, many of which remain untreatable and impose a heavy burden on quality of life and healthcare systems. This highlights the urgent need for advanced modelling systems that can inform the development of new therapies.

In his introduction to retinal organoids, Dr Jones explains how 3D organoids derived from human stem cells overcome the limitations of animal models, which often fail to recapitulate human biology due to species-specific differences, and surpass traditional 2D cultures by capturing the intricacy of multicellular tissue architecture. Retinal organoids mimic key stages of human retinal development, making them highly relevant for studying disease mechanisms.

Dr Jones discusses how retinal organoids offer powerful disease modelling capabilities, are supporting the next wave of therapeutics for treating retinal diseases and the promise of stem cell-derived retinal cell replacement therapies for treating sight loss resulting from retinal degeneration.