hotspot -WSS

hotspot

author：focus 2025-09-10 08:41:21 - browse：18

Ula Jurkunas, associate director of the cornea service at Mass Eye and Ear, performs the first CALEC surgery. Courtesy Mass Eye and Ear

The first time Phillip Durst saw the big A on the chart, he could hardly believe it. It was the first in a series of letters to check his vision in his left eye. “They keep flipping the chart and it keeps getting smaller and smaller, and I keep identifying the letters — that was huge,” said Durst. “It’s like a miracle.”

A year earlier, in April 2017, Durst had lost sight from that same eye after it was hit by a caustic water treatment solution in a work accident. The damage was so severe that a standard corneal transplant would not resolve it. But in April 2018, he underwent a new, innovative procedure: An eye stem cell transplant led by Ula Jurkunas, the associate director of the cornea service at Mass Eye and Ear in Boston.

Durst, now 51 years old, is the first of four patients who were included in a Phase 1 trial of Cultivated Autologous Limbal Epithelial Cell (CALEC) transplant, the results of which were published Friday in Science Advances. The procedure allowed him to become a suitable candidate for another surgery, the artificial corneal transplant, while rehabilitating his vision — and his life.

Unlock this article by subscribing to STAT+ and enjoy your first 30 days free!

GET STARTED Log In

Previous article： The high cost of giving birth even with insurance
Next article： Medicare isn't yet testing food as medicine

WSS

There should be a 'Moonshot' or 'Warp Speed' for rare diseases

Childhood vaccination ad campaign launches in the U.K.

Microsoft's Peter Lee: Generative AI could help doctors be more human

Fetal cell organoids grown from amniotic fluid, study finds

Change Healthcare: What is it, why does its cyberattack matter?

Laying a path for careers in science

hotspot

hotspot

Wikipedia

Biden outlines 'new path' to provide student loan relief after Supreme Court rejection

For AI in health care standards, federal regulators join with industry group

Drug repurposing or repositioning? The language matters

Virtual repurposing can help discover new uses for existing drugs

Medicare proposal to cover medical devices draws a mixed reaction

Longer MASH drug regimen improved liver, Akero study finds

ChatGPT in medicine: STAT answers readers' burning questions

NEJM study measures Covid brain fog, impact on IQ

DIEP, the 'gold standard' of breast reconstruction, is under threat

NEJM study measures Covid brain fog, impact on IQ

explore

Microsoft's Peter Lee: Generative AI could help doctors be more human

Readout Newsletter: BridgeBio, Akero, and human embryo models

Medicare drug price negotiation continues, as pharma counteroffers

Readout Newsletter: Beam, Prozac, "TechBio" and more

Harvard's David Sinclair gets blowback over aging

Ancient Greek ideas underpin modern concepts of pregnancy

hotspot

explore

entertainment

knowledge