CellSight - Breakthrough Vision Research
Val Canto-Soler, Ph.D., is the Doni Solich Family Chair in Ocular Stem Cell Research and the Director of CellSight – the Ocular Stem Cell and Regeneration Research Program at the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Throughout her training and early stages of her independent carrier, she acquired substantial expertise on the mechanisms regulating retinal progenitor cell differentiation in vivo and in vitro. This expertise has been a critical foundation for the current main area of research in her lab, which is directed to the development of stem cell-based technology for the treatment of retinal degenerative diseases.
Using human induced pluripotent stem cells Dr. Canto-Soler and her research team have recently established a method to generate light-sensitive miniature human retinas in a laboratory dish. At CellSight, they are currently using this breakthrough technology to develop novel stem cell-based therapeutics to save and restore sight in patients with blinding diseases.