Cornea Research Group

Overview

The Cornea Research Group focuses on research relating to several aspects of corneal/refractive surgery. This includes understanding corneal wound healing following laser refractive surgery (i.e. using excimer and femtosecond lasers, assessing the wound healing response following many refractive procedures, e.g. LASIK/SMILE/Presbyopia surgery).

The corneal research is mainly focused on developing techniques of selective cellular therapy such as corneal endothelial cell therapy and stromal cell therapy. The team works on developing and optimising culture protocols, and translating these therapies to preclinical animal models and clinical trials.

Projects

1. Corneal Transplantation – assessing clinical outcomes following corneal transplantation using cohort data from the SCTS
2. Laser Wound Healing – wound healing responses following femtosecond laser corneal surgery for refractive and corneal transplantation, assessing wound healing following lenticule re-implantation, assessing lenticule integration
3. Improvement Outcomes in KPro Design – surface coating to improve adhesion following KPro surgery, reducing infective rates following KPro Surgery
4. Corneal Endothelial Cell Therapy – investigating transportation of cells for clinical delivery, assessing the efficacy of cells for different delivery systems, QC of GMP modified cells, assessing the efficacy of different carrier systems for cell delivery, development of humanised s-PRDx6 for optimisation of cell delivery, development of culture systems for endothelial stem cells
5. Stromal Cell Therapy – optimisation of protocols for expansion of corneal keratocytes, assessing models of delivery of these cells, efficacy of the cells for stromal therapy
6. Corneal Gene Therapy – assessing the effects of Cas 9 therapy patients with FECD, optimisation of vector delivery systems

Publications (Top 20)

1. Han SB, Ibrahim FNIM, Liu YC, Mehta JS. Efficacy of Modified Amnion-assisted Conjunctival Epithelial Redirection (ACER) for Partial Limbal Stem Cell Deficiency. Medicina (Kaunas). 2021 Apr 10;57(4):369. doi: 10.3390/medicina57040369.
2. Ke L, Wu QYS, Zhang N, Yang Z, Teo EPW, Mehta JS, Liu YC. Terahertz Spectroscopy Analysis of Human Corneal Sublayers. J Biomed Opt. 2021 Apr;26(4):043011. doi: 10.1117/1.JBO.26.4.043011.
3. Liu YC, Yam GH, Lin MT, Teo E, Koh SK, Deng L, Zhou L, Tong L, Mehta JS. Comparison of Tear Proteomic and Neuromediator Profiles Changes between Small Incision Lenticule Extraction (SMILE) and Femtosecond Laser-assisted In-situ Keratomileusis (LASIK). J Adv Res. 2020 Nov 5;29:67-81. doi: 10.1016/j.jare.2020.11.001. eCollection 2021 Mar.
4. Riau AK, Htoon HM, Alió Del Barrio JL, Nubile M, El Zarif M, Mastropasqua L, Alió JL, Mehta JS. Femtosecond Laser-assisted Stromal Keratophakia for Keratoconus: A Systemic Review and Meta-analysis. Int Ophthalmol. 2021 May;41(5):1965-1979. doi: 10.1007/s10792-021-01745-w. Epub 2021 Feb 20.
5. Ong HS, Ang M, Mehta J. Evolution of Therapies for the Corneal Endothelium: Past, Present and Future Approaches. Br J Ophthalmol. 2021 Apr;105(4):454-467. doi: 10.1136/bjophthalmol-2020-316149. Epub 2020 Jul 24.
6. Han SB, Liu YC, Mohamed-Noriega K, Mehta JS. Advances in Imaging Technology of Anterior Segment of the Eye. J Ophthalmol. 2021 Feb 23;2021:9539765. doi: 10.1155/2021/9539765. eCollection 2021.
7. Patil M, Soh YQ, Yu HC, Nischal KK, Mehta JS. Recent Advances in Pediatric Endothelial Keratoplasty. Int Ophthalmol Clin. 2021 Jan 1;61(1):57-75. doi: 10.1097/IIO.0000000000000342.
8. Sie NM, Yam GH, Soh YQ, Lovatt M, Dhaliwal D, Kocaba V, Mehta JS. Regenerative Capacity of the Corneal Transition Zone for Endothelial Cell Therapy. Stem Cell Res Ther. 2020 Dec 4;11(1):523. doi: 10.1186/s13287-020-02046-2.
9. Soh YQ, Peh GSL, Naso SL, Kocaba V, Mehta JS. Automated Clinical Assessment of Corneal Guttae in Fuchs Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy. Am J Ophthalmol. 2021 Jan;221:260-272. doi: 10.1016/j.ajo.2020.07.029. Epub 2020 Jul 28.
10. Ting DSJ, Peh GSL, Adnan K, Mehta JS. Translational and Regulatory Challenges of Corneal Endothelial Cell Therapy: A Global Perspective. Tissue Eng Part B Rev. 2021 Jan 11. doi: 10.1089/ten.TEB.2020.0319.
11. Mansoor H, Liu YC, Wong YR, Lwin NC, Seah XY, Mehta JS. Evaluation of Femtosecond Laser-assisted Anterior Capsulotomy in the Presence of Ophthalmic Viscoelastic Devices (OVDs). Sci Rep. 2020 Dec 9;10(1):21542. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-78361-8.
12. Lovatt M, Kocaba V, Hui Neo DJ, Soh YQ, Mehta JS. Nrf2: A Unifying Transcription Factor in the Pathogenesis of Fuchs' Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy. Redox Biol. 2020 Oct;37:101763. doi: 10.1016/j.redox.2020.101763. Epub 2020 Oct 16.
13. Soh YQ, Kocaba V, Weiss JS, Jurkunas UV, Kinoshita S, Aldave AJ, Mehta JS. Corneal Dystrophies. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2020 Jun 11;6(1):46. doi: 10.1038/s41572-020-0178-9.
14. Ong HS, Peh G, Neo DJH, Ang HP, Adnan K, Nyein CL, Morales-Wong F, Bhogal M, Kocaba V, Mehta JS. A Novel Approach of Harvesting Viable Single Cells from Donor Corneal Endothelium for Cell-injection Therapy. Cells. 2020 Jun 9;9(6):1428. doi: 10.3390/cells9061428.
15. Liu YC, Ji AJS, Tan TE, Fuest M, Mehta JS. Femtosecond Laser-assisted Preparation of Conjunctival Autograft for Pterygium Surgery. Sci Rep. 2020 Feb 14;10(1):2674. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-59586-z.
16. Riau AK, Lwin NC, Gelfand L, Hu H, Liedberg B, Chodosh J, Venkatraman SS, Mehta JS. Surface Modification of Corneal Prosthesis with Nano-hydroxyapatite to Enhance In Vivo Biointegration. Acta Biomater. 2020 Apr 15;107:299-312. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2020.01.023. Epub 2020 Jan 22.
17. Ang M, Farook M, Htoon HM, Mehta JS. Ophthalmology Randomized Clinical Trial Comparing Femtosecond LASIK and Small-incision Lenticule Extraction. 2020 Jun;127(6):724-730. doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2019.09.006. Epub 2019 Sep 12.
18. Wahlig S, Peh GSL, Adnan K, Ang HP, Lwin CN, Morales-Wong F, Ong HS, Lovatt M, Mehta JS. Optimisation of Storage and Transportation Conditions of Cultured Corneal Endothelial Cells for Cell Replacement Therapy. Sci Rep. 2020 Feb 3;10(1):1681. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-58700-5.
19. Mehta JS, Kocaba V, Peh GS. A Prognostic Biomarker of Corneal Repair. Nat Biomed Eng. 2019 Dec;3(12):945-946. doi: 10.1038/s41551-019-0488-y.
20. Peh GSL, Ong HS, Adnan K, Ang HP, Lwin CN, Seah XY, Lin SJ, Mehta JS. Functional Evaluation of Two Corneal Endothelial Cell-based Therapies: Tissue-Engineered Construct and Cell Injection. Sci Rep. 2019 Apr 15;9(1):6087. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-42493-3.

Members

Head

Assoc Prof Marcus Ang

Team Members

• Assoc Prof Liu Yu-Chi
• Dr Ong Hon Shing
• Dr Gary Peh
• Dr Evan Wong
• Dr Andri Kartasasmita Riau
• Khadijah Binte Adnan
• Nur Zahirah Bte M Yusoff
• Neo Jing Hui, Dawn
• Lin Tzu Yu, Molly
• Nuur Shahinda Humaira
• Evelina Han
• Lee Xin Yu, Isabelle