Tag: Academic research

Posted on

Strong Public Support for Embryonic Genome Editing to Eliminate Severe Conditions, European Survey Shows

A European survey launched at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) suggests broad public support for fertility treatment and research, including genome editing in human embryos for specific reasons.

The report, “Fertility, Embryo Research and Genome Editing: Public Attitudes in Europe,” was commissioned by the charity Progress Educational Trust (PET), which aims to improve choices for people affected by infertility and/or genetic conditions, and was supported by ESHRE. It explored public attitudes towards fertility treatment, embryo research, genome editing, surrogacy, and related topics.

The authors say the findings will “inform ESHRE’s ongoing work in Europe, linked to implementation of the European Union’s SoHO (Substances of Human Origin) Regulation and to the ethical considerations that arise in our field.”

The survey included 8688 participants aged 16–75 years across the U.K., Netherlands, Spain and Italy, with more than 2000 respondents in each country.

Across all four countries, a large proportion of respondents supported state-funded fertility treatment for people experiencing infertility and wishing to conceive, ranging from 54% in the Netherlands to 57% in the U.K., 62% in Spain, and 64% in Italy. Support was highest for heterosexual couples (47–59%) and lowest for transgender people (12–18%).

Conversely, most respondents said they did not support people being able to choose the biological sex of their child, based on personal preference. Opposition was strongest in the Netherlands (72%) followed by the U.K. (59%), Italy (55%) and Spain (47%). Nonetheless, there was still a significant minority that expressed support for sex selection. This support was strongest in Spain (32%) followed by the U.K. (26%), Italy (22%) and the Netherlands (18%), and was more common among younger participants than their older counterparts.

The age differential across responses could mean that with time, there will be a shift in views and potential changes in policy, the authors note.

The survey also found public backing for the use of human embryos in research to better understand and develop treatments for congenital diseases. Support ranged from 41% in Italy to 48% in the Netherlands and Spain, substantially exceeding opposition in all four countries (15–24%), including Italy, where research uses of human embryos are currently prohibited.

Respondents were then asked whether they supported or opposed the use of genome editing in human embryos, in three different scenarios:

  1. For scientific and medical research to help understand or develop treatments for congenital disease, without human implantation.
  2. In human embryos that will be transferred to a human to establish pregnancy to help eliminate a severe or life-threatening condition, like cystic fibrosis, in the resulting child.
  3. In human embryos that will be transferred to a human to establish pregnancy to help eliminate a common or medically manageable condition, like asthma, in the resulting child.

In all four of the countries, more respondents supported than opposed all three of the uses of genome editing, with the highest level of support given if the technique helps eliminate a severe or life-threatening condition.

It is important to note that this use of genome editing—which was supported by 55% in the Netherlands, by 53% in Spain, by 52% in the U.K. and by 46% in Italy—is not permitted by law in any of these four countries at present.

PET commented: “It is heartening to see such substantial support for uses of genome editing in human embryos, across all four of the countries surveyed. That said, these findings present an interesting conundrum. Respondents seem to be more ready to countenance the use of genome-edited embryos in treatment—at least, if helps to eliminate a severe or life-threatening condition—than they are to countenance the use of genome-edited embryos in research. Realistically, research must occur first. There is therefore a need for wide-ranging public conversations, where the vital role played by research—in enabling treatment, and ensuring that treatment is safe and effective—can be conveyed.”

Professor Karen Sermon, immediate past chair of ESHRE, said, “Reproductive medicine and embryo research are advancing rapidly, and these findings show the importance of understanding how the public views those developments. It is particularly striking that support for some applications extends beyond what is currently permitted in certain countries. As science advances, it is essential that public awareness keeps pace, so that decisions about future treatments are informed by both evidence and societal values.”

The post Strong Public Support for Embryonic Genome Editing to Eliminate Severe Conditions, European Survey Shows appeared first on Inside Precision Medicine.

Posted on

Identifying Behavior Change Techniques for Digital Interventions Addressing Alcohol and Tobacco Co-Use: Findings From a Delphi Consensus Study

Background: Alcohol and tobacco use frequently co-occur and contribute significantly to the global burden of disease. Despite the well-established benefits of addressing both behaviors simultaneously, health care professionals often face substantial challenges in delivering integrated interventions, including limited time, training, and resources. Digital health interventions offer a promising avenue to directly support patients in reducing alcohol and tobacco use, while bypassing some of the barriers encountered in clinical settings. However, there is a lack of consensus on the key behavior change techniques (BCTs) that must be incorporated to ensure that interventions are evidence based and contextually appropriate, making them effective. Objective: The study aims to identify expert opinions on the most suitable and effective BCTs (reflecting both behavioral relevance and delivery feasibility) to be included in a 1-time, self-guided digital intervention intended to initiate behavior change and support alcohol reduction among people trying to quit smoking. Methods: We conducted a 2-round modified Delphi study with 14 panelists with expertise in behavioral science, alcohol and tobacco treatment, and digital interventions. Panelists rated 20 BCTs identified in a previous rapid review using the acceptability, practicability, effectiveness, affordability, safety, and equity (APEASE) criteria. BCTs were deemed “appropriate” if at least 70% (n=10) of panelists agreed on all criteria. Results: Six BCTs were identified as appropriate for implementation: goal setting, action planning (individualized change plan), action planning (reduction strategies), feedback on behavior, reattribution, and pros and cons. These BCTs were considered effective for promoting behavior change through structured planning and personalized strategies. The panel reached partial consensus on several BCTs, while 8 BCTs were deemed inappropriate for a 1-time, unsupervised digital intervention. Conclusions: The results of this study offer a consensus-based view, reflecting expert opinion on the perceived appropriateness and feasibility of the BCTs that should be included in a 1-time digital intervention to address co-occurring alcohol and tobacco use.
<img src="https://jmir-production.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thumbs/e19faf2880a4e5dc671b23700b4b93bd" />

Posted on

Using Ecological Momentary Assessment to Document and Investigate Caregiver Practices Between Pediatric Therapy Sessions: Prospective Pilot Cohort Study

Background: Determining the appropriate dosage of pediatric occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech-language pathology services is important when supporting families of children with disabilities. However, therapy dosage is inconsistently reported, and caregiver-delivered practice between sessions is rarely documented. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) offers a method to capture caregiver practice in real time and to examine factors that influence it. Objective: This study aims to pilot the use of EMA to measure caregiver practices between therapy sessions and to compare EMA-reported practices with caregiver recall. Methods: This pilot prospective cohort study used convenience sampling to recruit caregivers of children receiving therapy services. During September 2024, participants completed a confidential baseline Qualtrics survey in their homes, which included recall of home practice from the previous week. Participants were then invited to complete 30 days of EMA logging of daily practice. Five participants enrolled in the EMA phase, which began 24 to 72 hours after baseline survey completion and took place during October and November 2024. Semistructured follow-up interviews were conducted immediately after the 30-day EMA period. Results: Of the 34 survey participants, 5 continued to the EMA phase, contributing 150 days of data, with 82 completed entries (82/150, 55%). Caregivers primarily completed EMA logs on days when practice occurred; missing entries were coded as zero practice based on caregiver reports. Recalled practice averaged 4.5 (SD 5.65) bouts/day and 11.6 (SD 6.35) minutes/bout, totaling 71.2 (SD 121.02) minutes/day. EMA-reported practice across all days (n=150) averaged 2.7 (SD 4.39) bouts/day and 6.5 (SD 6.45) minutes/bout, totaling 23.2 (SD 14.12) minutes/day, which was substantially lower than recalled estimates. On days when practice was reported (n=82), EMA-documented practice averaged 5.2 (SD 3.28) bouts/day and 6.5 (SD 6.45) minutes/bout, totaling 23.9 (SD 14.72) minutes/day. Variability in recalled practice was high (mean 71.19, SD 121.02 min/d). Caregivers described practice as occurring in short, frequent bouts embedded within daily routines, with routine integration, child engagement, and recall of therapist strategies identified as key facilitators. Conclusions: Caregiver-delivered practice occurred in short, frequent bouts integrated into daily routines. EMA-reported practice was substantially lower than caregiver recall, suggesting that retrospective recall and prospectively reported EMA data may differ substantially. These findings highlight the importance of teaching strategies that are brief, engaging, and easily incorporated into daily routines. Despite the small sample, EMA was acceptable to a subset of caregivers who completed participation; however, substantial attrition between survey enrollment and EMA initiation suggests significant feasibility and participation barriers that warrant further investigation.
<img src="https://jmir-production.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thumbs/6e135aa69e85c669c93d6301999e0bed" />

Posted on

Use of Electronic Patient Record Systems for Rapid Response to an MHRA Public Assessment Report: Retrospective Observational Study

Background: Digital health data and infrastructure facilitate rapid analysis to provide actionable data, thereby fulfilling the principles of a learning health system. In response to a report from the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), a rapid service evaluation was carried out to identify patterns of modified-release (MR) opioid use after elective surgery. Objective: We aimed to describe the prescribing patterns of MR opioids, methods to repurpose existing infrastructure, and the experience of collaboration between clinical and research teams using shared data pipelines. Methods: A retrospective case-control study was conducted at a tertiary care organization across multiple hospital sites in London, United Kingdom. Prescription and administration data for adult patients undergoing elective surgery between March 31, 2019, and June 20, 2025, were extracted from a standardized research data pipeline within 4 weeks of the publication of the MHRA report. Patients were screened for MR opioid prescriptions in the postoperative period and at hospital discharge. Counts and proportions of encounters in which MR opioids were administered or prescribed were evaluated across the study period. Reflections on the application of the infrastructure for this purpose were also documented. Results: Of 126,882 elective surgeries screened, 102,879 (81.1%) met the eligibility criteria. Over the study period, patients received a new MR opioid prescription after 7525 (7.3%) of the 102,879 eligible encounters, with 2438 (2.4%) encounters receiving a new MR opioid prescription at hospital discharge. Postoperative administration of MR opioids and prescribing at discharge have declined since 2020. As a result of this study, a new context-aware alert system was developed to monitor and reduce MR opioid prescribing in this surgical cohort. Reflections on the implementation experience demonstrated how collaboration between clinical and research teams in conjunction with integrated and seamless research pipelines allowed rapid knowledge generation. Key issues raised were the difficulty of validation between parallel data extraction systems and how the two different teams compared nonequitable data points and results. Conclusions: Mature digital and analytical infrastructure within health care institutions can enable swift evaluation of local practices in the context of national medication safety alerts. This can shorten action response times and improve patient care but requires close collaboration between clinicians and research teams. Shared infrastructure between teams across the learning health system improves data quality and provides easy access to the key users. Further work is needed to understand the benefits and challenges of infrastructure built for other use cases and the effectiveness of the intervention.
<img src="https://jmir-production.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thumbs/ec640bbb9651cf713dae5240043a19d6" />

Posted on

Virtual Reality–Based Relaxation Training and Symptom Improvement Among Inpatients With Depressive Disorders: Retrospective Nonrandomized Comparative Study

Background: Virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used for adjunctive relaxation training in psychiatric care. However, evidence remains limited among hospitalized patients with depressive disorders, particularly in routine inpatient settings in China, and little is known about whether improvement varies by session frequency. Objective: This retrospective study examined whether adjunctive VR-based relaxation training was associated with changes in depressive and anxiety symptoms among inpatients with depressive disorders and whether improvement differed by session frequency. Methods: We conducted a retrospective, nonrandomized natural-group comparison using complete anonymized medical records from patients hospitalized in Lishui Second People’s Hospital between January 1 and December 31, 2022. Patients met () diagnostic criteria for depressive episodes or recurrent depressive disorders and were screened using predefined criteria. The analytic sample included 133 inpatients: 63 (47.4%) received adjunctive VR-based relaxation training plus usual care and 70 (52.6%) received usual care only. Usual care included pharmacotherapy and physiotherapy. The VR intervention consisted of 25-minute immersive relaxation sessions delivered approximately 3 times per week. Symptoms were assessed at admission and discharge using the 17-item Hamilton Depression Scale and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale. Response was defined as a reduction of 50% or more from baseline, and remission was defined as a total score of 7 or less. Baseline characteristics, outcome scores, response and remission rates, and exploratory session-frequency subgroups were compared. All analyzed variables were checked against complete medical records; no missing values were identified, and no imputation was performed. Results: The VR and control groups did not differ significantly in baseline depressive or anxiety scores. At discharge, adjunctive VR-based relaxation training was associated with lower depressive and anxiety symptom scores than usual care alone. The VR group also showed higher response rates for both depressive and anxiety symptoms and a higher anxiety remission rate, whereas depression remission was similar. Exploratory session-frequency analyses suggested that anxiety improvement may be more consistently associated with VR exposure than depression remission; however, the pattern was not strictly linear and should be interpreted cautiously because treatment frequency was linked to hospitalization duration and routine care factors. Conclusions: This study is innovative in evaluating structured VR-based relaxation training as an adjunct to routine inpatient depression care and in providing preliminary observations on session-frequency patterns in a real-world Chinese psychiatric setting. Unlike many previous VR studies conducted in noninpatient, nonclinical, or short-term experimental contexts, this study reflects everyday clinical practice among hospitalized patients with depressive disorders. The findings contribute practical evidence for integrating immersive relaxation into comprehensive inpatient care, particularly when additional anxiety relief is desired. Because the study was retrospective and nonrandomized, the findings indicate associations rather than causal effects and should be confirmed in prospective randomized controlled trials.
<img src="https://jmir-production.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thumbs/3f676641d2a71ff688fdee4dc02b8592" />

Posted on

Exploring Informal Caregivers’ Perception of the Olera Digital Caregiving Assistance Platform for Dementia Care: Mixed Methods Evaluation Study

Background: Informal caregivers of people living with dementia often experience high rates of caregiver burnout while providing care. Although there are many websites and mobile apps available to help caregivers, many do not use digital tools. The Olera platform was developed to be an easily adoptable web-based support tool, connecting caregivers with long-term services and supports, financial assistance, and educational resources. The platform was developed based on the Build-Measure-Learn framework with input from caregiver needs assessments and usability studies. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the quantitative and qualitative feedback of informal caregivers of people living with dementia on the second iteration of the Olera platform. The primary objective was to assess caregivers’ acceptance of this caregiving platform. The secondary objective was to use qualitative methods to explore (1) the study cohort’s challenges in daily caregiving to determine and compare them with prior literature, (2) their experience when using the Olera platform, and (3) their attitudes toward integrating artificial intelligence in caregiver services for future studies and platform development. Methods: Caregivers were recruited through various sources and screened for eligibility through an initial survey. Participants used the platform for 4 weeks and completed a survey with an adapted Technology Acceptance Survey (TAS) and qualitative open-ended questions at the end of the testing period. TAS responses were summarized with descriptive statistics, while ANOVAs, tests, and linear regressions were used to compare the differences in the overall TAS scores by caregiver characteristics. Qualitative feedback data on the platform’s usefulness were analyzed via a thematic analysis framework approach. Results: A total of 65 caregivers in the United States completed the study, with a mean age of 59.9 (SD 9.8) years. The majority were female (61/65, 95.3%), non-Hispanic or Latino White (45/65, 69.2%), and the adult child of their care recipient (42/65, 64.6%). Evaluation of the Olera platform showed a high acceptance rate, with each TAS item scoring above 5.0 and an overall TAS score of 5.83 (SD 0.85) out of 7. Higher platform use frequency was associated with higher TAS ratings in technology acceptance (=7.88, <.001). Thematic analyses elicited the caregiving challenges, evaluation of the Olera platform, and feedback on artificial intelligence–assisted support. Conclusions: The Olera platform is an example of a beneficial web-based tool, though key features were requested to be included in the next iteration. Additionally, data supported prior findings regarding informal caregiver challenges and the insufficiency of conventional support mechanisms, indicating a need for more innovative digital solutions. Future research and development efforts using the Build-Measure-Learn approach are necessary to further iterate the platform’s key features, enhance the tool, involve more informal caregivers in its improvements, and serve as a model for customizable, person-centered online care support. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): RR2-10.2196/64127
Posted on

Linguistic Fidelity and Classification Performance of Large Language Models for Generating Synthetic Operative Notes: Evaluation Study

Background: Machine learning models for surgical applications require large, diverse datasets; however, data scarcity remains a critical limitation due to privacy regulations, institutional variability, and the rarity of many surgical procedures. Large language models (LLMs) offer a potential solution through synthetic data generation, but their performance and reliability in specialized surgical domains remain underexplored. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the linguistic fidelity of LLM-generated operative notes for cleft lip and palate procedures and to assess their impact on natural language processing classifier performance under varying data availability conditions. Methods: A total of 630 authentic operative notes were obtained from cleft procedures (86 primary cleft lip repairs, 101 primary cleft palate repairs, and 62 primary alveolar bone grafting [ABG] procedures) performed between 2013 and 2024. GPT-4o generated matched synthetic notes using multishot prompting with anonymized examples. Linguistic fidelity was evaluated using BERTScore for semantic similarity, Jensen-Shannon divergence of part-of-speech trigrams for syntactic structure, and Bilingual Evaluation Understudy (BLEU) scores for lexical overlap. Binary classifiers using ClinicalBERT embeddings and logistic regression were trained under both full data and data-scarce (retaining 5% or 10% of positive training cases while retaining the full negative training set) conditions, with and without synthetic augmentation at approximate ratios of synthetic to real notes (1:1, 2:1, 5:1, and 10:1). Results: Synthetic notes demonstrated high semantic fidelity across all procedures (BERTScore -score: 0.86‐0.88) and low syntactic divergence (Jensen-Shannon divergence: 0.06‐0.08). BLEU scores indicated moderate lexical variation (0.14‐0.19), reflecting distinct but contextually consistent phrasing. With full datasets, synthetic augmentation did not meaningfully affect classifier performance. Under data-scarce conditions retaining 5% of positive training cases while preserving the full negative training set, the area under the curve improved from 0.915 (SD 0.056) to 0.929 (SD 0.033) for cleft lip and from 0.935 (SD 0.036) to 0.949 (SD 0.033) for cleft palate, with smaller gains for ABG (mean 0.983, SD 0.014 to mean 0.987, SD 0.015). When retaining 10% of positive training cases, performance changes were minor across procedures (cleft lip: mean 0.952, SD 0.036 to mean 0.948, SD 0.028; cleft palate: mean 0.945, SD 0.044 to mean 0.956, SD 0.036; and ABG: mean 0.989, SD 0.008 to mean 0.985, SD 0.012). Conclusions: LLM-generated operative notes exhibit strong semantic and syntactic fidelity to authentic documentation and can enhance model performance in a task-dependent manner when authentic data are limited. These findings suggest that synthetic data generation may address data scarcity challenges in specialized surgical domains, particularly for rare or underrepresented procedures, enabling robust machine learning model development.
<img src="https://jmir-production.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thumbs/3f3ea2f32d3d41246da633a50d5c7ff4" />

Posted on

Digital Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Older Adults With Symptoms of Depression: Feasibility Cohort Study

Background: Depressive symptoms are common among older adults and can significantly impact their quality of life. However, many older adults face barriers to accessing psychological treatment. Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) is a promising alternative to face-to-face treatments, but its feasibility among older adults has been less extensively studied than in adult populations. Objective: This study evaluated the feasibility of guided iCBT for adults aged 55 years and older with mild to moderate depressive symptoms recruited from the general population. Methods: This study is a feasibility study with a single-group, pretest-posttest design (n=21), in which all participants received guided iCBT for 8 weeks. Assessments were conducted at baseline (T0) and after the intervention (T1). The primary outcome was feasibility, conceptualized as satisfaction, usability, engagement, and uptake of iCBT. Secondary outcome measures included depression severity, working alliance, and technical alliance. Results: Participants were mostly highly educated (13/21, 61.9%), female (18/21, 85.7%), had an average age of 59.85 (SD 4.19; range 55-68) years, and reported moderate digital literacy. Feasibility outcomes indicated high satisfaction and engagement and moderate usability. Working alliance was rated as good by both participants and coaches, and technical alliance was rated as moderate by the participants. There was a nonsignificant modest decrease in depressive symptoms (Cohen <i>d</i>=0.47). Of the 20 participants who started the intervention, all completed the first 2 modules, but completion declined across the remaining 6 modules, with only 1 (5%) participant completing all modules. Conclusions: This study found that guided iCBT has the potential to be a feasible option for older adults experiencing depressive symptoms, with participants reporting generally positive satisfaction, moderate engagement, and a moderate therapeutic bond with their coaches. However, below-average usability ratings and a moderate technical alliance suggest that some aspects of the platform require improvement. Future research should focus on improving usability and adherence, as well as testing the intervention in a larger and more diverse population.
Posted on

Automatic Speech Recognition and Acoustic Analysis for Dysarthria Assessment in Telerehabilitation: User-Centered Design and Usability Study

Background: Dysarthria is a frequent motor speech disorder following a stroke, affecting up to 42% of survivors and resulting in reduced speech intelligibility and diminished quality of life. Clinical assessments, such as the Frenchay Dysarthria Assessment, Second Edition (FDA-2), rely heavily on the subjective judgment of speech-language pathologists (SLPs), which limits comparability and scalability. Telepractice solutions have the potential to extend access to care, but validated digital tools that combine automatic analysis with clinically usable interfaces remain scarce. Objective: This study aimed to develop and evaluate a web-based application that integrates automatic speech recognition (ASR) and acoustic analysis into a user-centered dashboard for SLPs. Specifically, we investigated: (1) whether ASR can provide intelligibility scores comparable to those of human listeners; (2) the usability of the system in 2 iterative cycles with SLPs; and (3) the feasibility of presenting clinically relevant acoustic features to support telerehabilitation. Methods: A user-centered design process was followed, involving contextual inquiry, requirements gathering, prototype development, and iterative testing with SLPs. The analytical core of the prototype included an ASR module (Whisper Large-v3) to compute intelligibility scores, combining word error rate–based accuracy with sentence-level and word-level alignment. Phoneme-level error highlighting was implemented to identify frequent substitution or deletion patterns. In parallel, an acoustic module extracted clinically relevant measures, including fundamental frequency (mean and range), intensity (mean and variability), and vowel formants (F1–F2 space), supplemented by sustained phonation duration. A pilot validation compared ASR-based intelligibility scores with transcriptions from 8 lay listeners for 3 patients with dysarthria performing the Frenchay Dysarthria Assessment–2 word and sentence tasks. Usability was evaluated in 2 cycles with 8 and 4 SLPs, respectively, using the System Usability Scale and structured questionnaires. Results: In the pilot validation, ASR performance was comparable to, and in some cases better than, untrained human listeners for individuals with mild and moderate dysarthria, though performance declined with severe cases. Both usability cycles yielded excellent System Usability Scale scores (cycle 1: mean 88.4, SD 4.6; cycle 2: mean 91.7, SD 4.1). Core workflow elements, including navigation, session upload, and intelligibility score presentation, were consistently rated highly. Feedback evolved from bug reports and requests for clearer terminology in cycle 1 to suggestions for advanced analytic features in cycle 2, such as additional voice-quality indices and integrated note-taking. Conclusions: The prototype demonstrates that automatic intelligibility scoring and acoustic analysis can be integrated into a clinically usable, web-based dashboard. While current limitations include reliance on English-only phoneme analysis, limited advanced acoustic features, and lack of regulatory compliance, the application achieved excellent usability and shows promise for scalable telerehabilitation. Future work should expand multilingual support, incorporate additional acoustic measures, and validate the tool in larger clinical cohorts.
<img src="https://jmir-production.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thumbs/49585758e826cc9217603b3b543a5cc4" />

Posted on

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

It’s not easy to transplant a whole human eye. The surgery is difficult. And the eyes themselves start to degenerate as soon as they’ve left the body. When surgeons attempted it a few years ago, the newly-transplanted eye wasn’t able to see.

But researchers believe they might have a solution: a device that maintains and revives freshly removed eyeballs using a technique called perfusion. Perfusion works by providing surgically-removed organs with some of the oxygen and nutrients they typically get when they’re inside a body. Treated eyes don’t degrade as quickly, and appear to retain the ability to transmit electrical signals, and potentially see. The device could one day make eye transplantations a viable possibility.

“It’s really cool,” says Shannon Tessier at Massachusetts General Hospital, who was not involved in the research but studies perfusion of other organs. “It could be a new frontier for retina preservation.”

Pia Cosma at the Centre for Genomic Regulation at the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology in Spain and her colleagues have spent years developing their device. The Eye-in-a-Care-Box (ECaBox), as they call it, delivers an oxygen-rich supply of fluid through the artery that normally supplies the eye with blood.

The eye itself sits on a “bed,” and excess fluids are drained away. And while the device itself is sealed to maintain a specific temperature and pressure, a clear window on its side allows researchers to study and image the eye while it’s inside.

Cosma and her colleagues started experimenting with pig eyes, which are anatomically similar to human eyes but easier to get hold of (the team got theirs from a local slaughterhouse).

Pig eyes that are kept at room temperature outside of the device start to degenerate pretty quickly. The team found that cells in the eye shrank, and the eyes started to lose their structure. Cooling the organs didn’t help preserve them, either—the eyes degenerated within 24 hours even when they were kept at 4°C (39°F).

But eyes kept in the EcABox fared much better. 24 hours later, tests suggested the prefused eyes were “significantly more viable” than eyes that hadn’t been maintained in the device.

The perfused eyes also seemed to be able to respond to light, suggesting they might technically be able to see if they were transplanted. Untreated pig eyes lost this ability as soon as they were removed from the animal. But it came back after about 15 minutes of perfusion, according to the scientists behind the work. A few of the treated eyes kept going for 10 hours or more.

Cosma and her colleagues described the work in a preprint article that has not yet been peer reviewed, and did not want to comment on the work.

After success with the pig eyes, the team members then tested their device on human eyes. They first collected 12 eyes from six people who had died. In each case, one of each pair of eyes was put in the device, while the other was not. Again, the perfused eyes did better—and their retinas were preserved.

Cosma and her colleagues hope that their device could offer scientists a new way to study eye treatments—one that doesn’t involve experimenting on living animals. They also hope that, with some improvements, the ECaBox might provide a way to maintain and revive donated human eyes for whole-eye transplantation.

Whole-eye transplants have been attempted in the past, mostly in research animals, with limited success. In May 2023, a team at NYU Langone transplanted an eye along with part of a face to a man who had survived a high-voltage electrical accident that resulted in the loss of much of the left side of his face, including his left eye, two years earlier. Although the man recovered well, he wasn’t able to see out of the transplanted eye.

We won’t know whether eyes treated in the ECaBox could do any better until they have been transplanted, says Tessier. 

In the meantime, Cosma and her colleagues plan to use a newer version of their device to collect more human eyes for research. “We are planning to develop a portable, surgery-room ECaBox to minimize [degradation] in heart-beating donor eyes, when they become available,” they write.