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First Successful Skin-To-Eye Stem Cell Transplant

Researchers from RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan, presented results for a patient one year after the first ever skin-to-eye stem cell transplant at the Association for Research in Vision and Optometry (ARVO) Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington.

The 70-year-old patient had wet AMD that was unresponsive to other treatment methods. Skin from the patient’s arm was modified into induced pluripotent stem cells, which are stem cells generated directly from adult cells, then transformed into retinal pigment epithelium. This sheet of RPE cells were then transplanted into the back of the patient’s eye.

One year out from the surgery, the patient’s visual acuity was maintained at the same level (18/200) without the use of anti-VEGF treatments, and the patient’s Visual Function Questionnaire (VFQ-25) score improved from 40.7 to 58.3.

Further information:”Transplantation of Autologous induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Derived Retinal Pigment Epithelium Cell Sheets for Exudative Age Related Macular Degeneration : A Pilot Clinical Study”

New Styles at Julbo

The collections are spicy this spring at Julbo, a pioneer of sunglasses for kids and teens. For the girls, Lola delivers comfort and head-turning looks, while for the rough and tumble boys, Rookie (photo) elicits admiration while providing total eye safety.

www.rlanctot.com

Health Canada Approves Smartphone-based Autorefractor

Smart Vision Labs, maker of portable, smart autorefractors, successfully registered the SVOne Pro autorefractor in Canada as a Class II medical device, and received a Canadian Medical Device License through Health Canada.

The SVOne Pro is a handheld Shack-Hartmann wavefront aberrometer for accurately measuring objective refractive error in children and adults.

“Receiving our Canadian Medical Device License is a significant step forward in the commercialization of SVOne in Canada,” said COO and co-founder Marc Albanese. “We’ve had a lot of interest from this market. With the Health Canada approval, our company’s mission to increase access to vision care globally will be even more attainable.”

An evaluation of the SVOne by Drs. Ciuffreda and Rosenfield of SUNY College of Optometry was published in the December 2015 issue of Optometry and Vision Science. The SVOne was compared with retinoscopy, subjective refraction and two commercially available autorefractors in 50 visually normal young adults.

The results showed that the SVOne aberrometer provided measurements “not significantly different from other subjective and objective procedures,” and that the SVOne is “valuable for vision screenings, as well as examinations taking place outside the clinical office.”

Westgroupe Establishes the Fort Mac Eyeglass Relief Fund

Montreal, QC – The people of Fort McMurray have been in the thoughts of many since the wildfires started in early May. This tragedy has forced tens of thousands of inhabitants to evacuate their homes, and for some, to leave their belongings behind in the process, including their eyeglasses.

To support the community affected by this natural disaster, WestGroupe is uniting with the eye care community who are donating their time to assist the victims of Fort McMurray. WestGroupe has created the $10,000 (wholesale value) Fort Mac Eyeglass Relief Fund to replace the frames of displaced victims, free of charge.

To access the fund, eyecare professionals in Alberta must reorder a frame (by telephone) from one of WestGroupe’s brands (FYSH UK, KLiiK denmark, EVATIK, Superflex, IZUMI, Bertelli, Elizabeth Arden, Perry Ellis, Hello Kitty, Jill Stuart, New Balance Kids, ále, Stepper or SPY), and provide the patient’s proof of residence.

Marcolin USA Appoints Robinson and Carberry as Senior Vice Presidents

Somerville, NJ – Marcolin USA Eyewear Corp. is pleased to announce the recruitment of Chris Robinson as the new SVP Optical Channel and Tom Carberry as SVP Commercial Operations. Both Mr. Robinson and Mr. Carberry, with a solid background in the eyewear industry, will report directly to Marcolin USA Eyewear Corp. CEO, Fabrizio Gamberini.

Mr. Robinson will be responsible for leading, driving and managing change, identifying opportunities across the Optical Channel organization.

Mr. Carberry will be focused on improving the overall Commercial Operations and devising a strategy for improving Customer Service development, training, sales operation and overall sales and product performance management.

Robinson and Carberry were both previously executives at Safilo USA.

Click HERE to read the full press release.

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