For Immediate Release
New online tool designed to help researchers locate eye tissue
Washington, D.C. (April 29, 2019) – The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) and the Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA) have partnered to launch EyeFind, a new online tool that will connect eye and vision researchers with eye banks to more efficiently obtain eye tissue that is critical for their research.
“Providing ocular tissue for research is central to fulfilling eye banks’ mission to restore sight to those in need,” said Kevin Corcoran, EBAA’s President and CEO. “EyeFind will help connect eye bankers with researchers whose work can transform the lives of countless people around the world.”
Over a year ago, a working group was formed with representatives from both organizations to develop a tool to improve communication between researchers and eye banks while speeding up and easing the process of bringing human eye tissue into labs. EyeFind users can conduct a search based on a number of parameters to identify the type of tissue needed by the researcher. The results will then list eye banks around the United States that can provide the tissue. Users can then contact an eye bank to discuss their project and secure tissue.
Prior to EyeFind, researchers located eye tissue by successively calling or emailing eye banks directly until they found the tissue needed for a study – a process that could take significant time and resources for both researchers and eye banks. Removing the burden, and facilitating closer relationships with eye banks, allows researchers to spend more time in the lab and less time on the phone.
“Obtaining human eye tissue is vital to the work of many vision researchers. Yet, it can be challenging to obtain such tissues,” said Dan Stamer, ARVO’s President-elect and the Joseph A. C. Wadsworth Professor of Ophthalmology as well as a professor of biomedical engineering at Duke University, who led the project for ARVO. “EyeFind was developed to better connect researchers with the crucial human eye tissues they need so they can better understand the underlying causes of blinding human eye diseases that lead to treatments.”
To access EyeFind, visit www.EyeFind.org.