Dr. Susanna S. Park is an eye doctor on a mission. At her medical clinic in Sacramento, California, she is working on a new treatment for an age-old disease, progressive blindness, by using a most modern concept – repurposing a person’s own stem cells for healing.

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Her research is unique at the University of California at Davis Eye Center. She has been studying eye diseases since she began working as an ophthalmologist almost 30 years ago. It’s not easy research but it is very rewarding. Dr. Park’s research focuses on retinal diseases as the retina is the most important part in vision processing in the eye and problems in the retina can severely affect our vision. The retina is the part of the human eye that is responsible for sending images to the brain so we can see. Problems with the retina can also be indicative for medical conditions affecting the rest of the body.

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How does our retina create sight?

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The retina is a thin layer of tissue in the back of the eye on the inside. It converts light that the eye lens has focused into neural signals and sends these signals to the brain for visual recognition. The retina begins forming around the eighth week of pregnancy. When all the parts of the eye are developed, we can begin to see at about our 27th week, while we are still in the womb. Humans are born with functional sight that becomes better as we develop into childhood and adulthood. We depend on it to survive and flourish! However, when the retina becomes damaged, we begin to lose our precious vision. Therefore, it is essential to develop ways to heal the retina before vision loss progresses to blindness.

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How does the retina get damaged in CRVO?

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You may be familiar with common eye conditions that cause damage to the retina such as macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma. There is also a less well-known condition, called Central Retinal Vein Occlusion (CRVO) that damages the retina. In CRVO, the retinal vein that takes oxygen-depleted blood  back to the heart gets blocked. This blockage causes the vein to leak blood and fluid into the retina. The fluid often collects in the area of the retina responsible for central vision. Currently, there is no treatment for CRVO but there are treatments for the complications of CRVO. Dr. Park became interested in stem cell research as a way to actually repair the retina and thus provide better options for her patients with vision loss.

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Is stem cell research to repair the retina going on right now?

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Dr. Park’s current research study, called the TRUST study, focuses on CRVO. In this study, she takes the person’s own repair stem cells from their hip, processes them, and then places them on damaged retinal blood vessels. This procedure is designed to renew the blood flow and help heal the eye to improve vision. She has previously conducted research with this procedure on other types of retinal conditions with positive safety results. Her current research is approved by the University of California at Davis and funded by the National Eye Institute.

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What can we do to help?

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There is much more research to be done, though. You can help Dr. Park and other researchers by learning more about research studies, volunteering for studies if you qualify, spreading the word, and encouraging others to participate. As Dr. Park, says, “A journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step.”

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Further Reading

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For more information about Dr. Park at the University of California at Davis: https://profiles.ucdavis.edu/susanna.park

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For peer reviewed articles on Dr. Park's research on bone marrow stem cell therapy:

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Advances in bone marrow stem cell therapy for retinal dysfunction. Progress in retinal and eye research, 56, 148–165 (2017)  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5237620/

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Cell therapy applications: Retinal vascular diseases—Diabetic retinopathy and retinal vein occlusion. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 57: ORSF, 2016. (PMID 27116667)   https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27116667/

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For more research on eye research in general: htpps://www.nei.nih.gov

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To learn more about how the human eye develops: https://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/fetal-development/fetal-eyesight/