An eye and vision research centre here is collaborating with international partners to pave the way for new treatments ranging from corneal to cataract surgery.

The Singapore Eye Research Institute (Seri), together with the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC), is partnering Byers Eye Institute at Stanford University in the US to develop alternatives to corneal transplants, so that only the affected parts of the eye will be treated or replaced.

They will also work on enhancing education, clinical care and research in ophthalmology.

Seri, SNEC’s research arm, is also collaborating with German medtech company Carl Zeiss Meditec to advance surgical outcomes in refractive and cataract surgery. The partnership will have a combined funding of nearly $20 million for the next three years.

Seri and SNEC signed a memorandum of understanding on Nov 12 with Byers Eye Institute, entering into a three-year agreement beginning in November.

Professor Jodhbir Mehta, executive director of Seri, said that one of the projects involves tissue engineering to replace damaged scarred corneas in patients who have suffered vision loss because of corneal infection, using a combination of scaffolds and cells.

Scaffolds, usually composed of polymeric biomaterials, offer structural support that cells can grow on and develop into tissue.

Prof Mehta said the Byers Eye Institute is contributing its expertise in this area, providing 3D-printed tissue-engineered scaffolds for the ongoing project.

The scaffold is a liquid gel that solidifies when it is applied to the eye, filling defects in the cornea.

He added that Seri’s expertise is in cellular development for both the cornea and retina, particularly in cell replacement therapy for the cornea.

“The individual teams have been working on their own respective parts of the project; now the next step is to combine the technologies together to take it further. There will also be an exchange of students or postdoctoral researchers working on this project,” said Prof Mehta.

In addition, top trainees and junior faculty from SNEC and Seri will have the opportunity to participate in ophthalmic internships and fellowships at Stanford.

These exchange programmes will enable participants to expand their knowledge of various healthcare systems and approaches to patient care, while receiving mentoring from ophthalmology experts at the three institutions.

The collaboration will also allow the institutions to use each other’s expertise in artificial intelligence and digital programmes, as well as to access retinal image datasets from populations in the US and Asia to improve the detection of eye diseases.

The second partnership, between Zeiss and Seri, was announced on Nov 14 at SNEC. It is supported under Singapore’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2025 Plan, an initiative aimed at enhancing the nation’s research and development from 2021 to 2025.

Cataract and refractive surgery are the most common ophthalmic surgical procedures worldwide, and demand for such procedures is expected to increase with an ageing population, said Seri.

Associate Professor Shamira Perera, who is co-head of the cataract and refractive surgery research group at Seri and responsible for overseeing the area of cataract surgery under the collaboration with Zeiss, said SNEC carries out about 21,000 cataract operations a year.

One of the projects under his charge is the development of a new type of intra-ocular lens (IOL) to replace the clouded lens in the eye.

Prof Perera said currently available multifocal IOLs may not be suitable for some patients, particularly those with pre-existing eye conditions such as retinal disease and glaucoma.

These lenses can cause issues such as glare and halos, and may also lead to reduced vision in lowlight conditions.

The project aims to find novel solutions to those issues so that multifocal IOLs can suit more patients, he added. The hope is that these patients will no longer need corrective eyewear if they can receive such IOLs during cataract surgery.

The research team is starting with its first human clinical studies within a year and hopes to commercialise the new IOL by the end of the next three years.

Zeiss and Seri will work together to enhance processes before and during surgery, so that patients can enjoy faster visual rehabilitation and better long-term stability after their procedures.