21/08/2026
Doctors at the Dr Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences (RPC), AIIMS New Delhi, and engineers at , are testing a way to recycle discarded donor corneas using a bioengineered graft.
Read more at: https://shorturl.at/Ko3he
"A donated human cornea has a short lifespan. Once removed from a body, it must be transplanted within 10 to 14 days, the maximum time allowed by the liquid solution used to preserve it. If no recipient is found within this window, the tissue is thrown away.
Additionally, many other donated corneas are turned down for medical reasons. This leads to eye tissue getting routinely discarded while thousands of patients wait on national lists for sight-restoring surgery.
To fix this gap, AIIMS doctors and IIT Delhi engineers are testing a way to recycle discarded donor corneas using a bioengineered graft."
A donated human cornea must be transplanted within 2 weeks. If no recipient is found within that window, the tissue turns unsuitable for transplant and is thrown away.