For the
technology to help restore sight in people, such as those with macular degeneration, the researchers
needed to come up with a ready source of
immature retinal cells.
Researchers had developed the
technologies needed to create organoids years before — how to grow cells in culture, how to isolate stem cells from human tissue, and how to coax the stem cells, undifferentiated and
immature, to become specific types of cells at later stages of development.