A joint research team led by special professor Cho Dong-woo of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology POSTECH, ophthalmology professor Won Jae-yeon at Eunpyeong St. Mary's Hospital, and biotechnology professor Kim Jeong-ju at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies said on the 24th that it produced a "retina-on-a-chip" using 3D bioprinting technology and replicated retinal vein occlusion outside the body.
Retinal vein occlusion is a major blinding disease in which retinal blood vessels become blocked by conditions such as hypertension and diabetes, damaging vision. Just as water backs up when an apartment water pipe is clogged, when the retinal vein narrows, blood cannot flow, the retina swells, and inflammation and neovascularization occur, eventually leading to loss of vision.
However, existing treatments only alleviate symptoms without a fundamental solution, and the recurrence rate has been high. In addition, previous research on retinal vein occlusion relied mainly on animal experiments and 2D cell culture, making the physiological differences between animals and humans too great, and it was difficult to properly reproduce the complex three-dimensional structure of the retina or vascular stenosis with planar culture alone.
The research team overcame this limitation with 3D bioprinting technology. They created a "hybrid bioink" from the extracellular matrix left after removing only the cells from actual retinal tissue, implementing a microenvironment that directly reflected the retina's intrinsic biochemical signals. By combining multi-nozzle and triple coaxial printing technologies, they simultaneously implemented the retina's vasculature, cell layers, and blood-retinal barrier, and artificially narrowed some vessels to reproduce the pathological progression of the disease.
As a result, they were able to observe the entire disease process on a lab chip, from vascular stenosis to ischemia, inflammation, vascular leakage, and retinal dysfunction. Phenomena such as inflammatory cytokine secretion, endothelial cell damage, and barrier collapse were confirmed, similar to actual patients.
When existing anti-inflammatory or anti-angiogenic drugs were administered, the chip showed responses similar to actual patients. Aspirin showed an inhibitory effect on damage, and when dexamethasone and bevacizumab—representative drugs often used to treat patients with retinal vein occlusion—were administered, inflammation and neovascularization decreased, confirming that the actual drugs responded accurately on the chip.
Professor Cho Dong-woo said, "Being able to reproduce retinal vein occlusion lesions similar to actual patients in the laboratory will greatly accelerate the preclinical stage of new drug development."
This study was published on the 1st (local time) in the international journal in materials and nanoengineering, Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials.
References
Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials (2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42114-025-01455-2