Three projects funded by DBT, DST and ICMR are going on in stem cell isolation and identification from ocular tissues.

The ICMR funded project is based on isolation and characterization of corneal limbal stem cells. The DST funded project with collaboration of CLRI, Chennai is based on bioengineering various scaffolds for the growth of corneal stem cells. The DBT project is based on the isolation and identification of retinal stem cells from ciliary epithelium and iris pigment epithelium in which we have shown neurospheres generation with potential to give rise to retinal specific differentiated cells. The next phase involves microarray, microrna and functional studies.