Research

Our research ranges from translational to clinical research. The focus of our bench-to-bedside translational research is currently on alternatives for conventional corneal transplantation. With a worldwide shortage of available donor tissue for corneal transplantation there is an urgent need to develop graft alternatives. Culturing corneal endothelial cells on bioengineered cell carriers offers the possibility to ‘build’ corneal grafts in the lab. With national and international collaboration partners we bring together the expertise to further optimize the bioengineered grafts for clinical applications.

The focus of our clinical research is on comparing the outcomes of currently available treatment preferences and on benchmarking the standard treatment of care against new treatment options. The ongoing BEST CORNEA study is currently the largest randomized clinical trial comparing the outcomes of the two standard endothelial keratoplasty techniques Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK) and Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK) for a broad range of surgery indications. In another project, we aim together with international collaboration partners at improving epithelial wound healing after refractive procedures to minimize pain and discomfort for patients after these procedures. For cataract patients we are looking into options to improve spectacle-independence while minimizing optical side-effects by evaluating novel lens combinations.