In Israel, doctors have achieved the graft of a 3D bioprinted cornea onto a 70-year-old woman suffering from severe corneal edema. This marks a historic first that, beyond the achievement itself, stands as a real source of hope in the face of the current global shortage of grafts.
Excellent Biocompatibility
In 2022, Swedish researchers successfully restored full sight in three blind patients using bio-artificial corneas made from collagen derived from pig cells. As progress in vision restoration continues, 3D printing is beginning to occupy a central role in this field. To illustrate, Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, Israel, carried out with success the transplantation of the very first fully 3D-bioprinted corneal implant in a human, at the end of 2025. Dr. Michael Mimouni performed this graft on a 70-year-old woman suffering from a severe corneal edema caused by endothelial dysfunction.
Although the patient was legally blind in the treated eye, the implant, named PB-001, began functioning immediately. The doctors announced a partial restoration of vision in the days that followed, thus demonstrating excellent biocompatibility. It should also be noted that the corneal implant was designed to unfold naturally after insertion using standard surgical tools, in order to integrate seamlessly with the patient’s tissues.
Hundreds of Implants Produced Using a single Donor Cornea
As explained in a publication on the Fierce Biotech platform, the implant is a highly technological tissue designed by the American regenerative medicine company Precise Bio. In practical terms, it consists of living human corneal cells cultured in the laboratory. Moreover, the company has managed to produce 300 corneal implants from a single donor cornea of a deceased donor. It should be noted that this is in fact a 4D printing technology – laser-assisted biofabrication (see below). This approach enabled a layer-by-layer arrangement at the scale of a single cell, faithfully reproducing the optical clarity and biomechanical properties of a healthy natural cornea.
“For the first time, a corneal implant entirely manufactured in the laboratory from cultured human corneal cells, rather than tissue sourced directly from a donor, has been successfully implanted in a patient.”, stated Aryeh Batt, co-founder and CEO of Precise Bio.
This technological milestone sits within a Phase 1 clinical trial, whose objective is to evaluate the product’s safety in a group of 10 to 15 patients. If the initial step seems to have succeeded, the final results of the study are expected by the end of 2026.
Reproducible Tissues and Long-Term Storage
For the researchers behind this work, the early results already mark a turning point in regenerative ophthalmology. Globally today, about 12 million people suffer from corneal blindness. Unfortunately, these patients do not have access to a transplant of adequate quality due to a shortage of donors. Thus, Precise Bio’s technology promises to radically transform transplantation by providing standardized and reproducible tissues.
Furthermore, these implants will also be storable via a cryopreservation process. This technique involves ultra-low-temperature freezing—typically between -150 and -196°C in liquid nitrogen—allowing temporary suspension of any biological activity. In other words, Precise Bio aims to transform a fragile living tissue into a medical product that can be stored long-term.
