Eye cells

Laminins are essential basement membrane proteins found throughout specialized ocular tissues, including the cornea, retina, and retinal pigment epithelium. Full-length human recombinant Biolaminin provide defined, animal origin-free substrates for robust differentiation, culture, and maturation of ocular cell types derived from pluripotent stem cells.

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Ocular cell therapies in clinical development

Ocular indications represent one of the largest application areas for pluripotent stem cell–derived cell therapies. More than 20% of ongoing PSC-derived cell therapy trials target eye diseases, with a primary focus on retinal pigment epithelium, photoreceptors, and corneal epithelial and endothelial cells (Kirkeby et al.,2025).

Cumulative number of hPSC-derived cell therapy trials over time, with ocular indications shown in green (adopted from Kirkeby et al., 2025)

Ocular programs represent ~25% of all hPSC-derived cell therapy products, with more than 170 patients treated or dosed (adopted from Kirkeby et al., 2025).

Approximately 21 clinical trials across 33 ocular indications, including dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), Stargardt disease, retinitis pigmentosa, and corneal repair (adopted from Kirkeby et al., 2025).

What are ocular laminins?

Laminins are heterotrimeric extracellular matrix proteins that form critical basement membranes across ocular tissues. In the eye, laminins regulate cell adhesion, polarity, survival, and differentiation. Distinct laminin isoforms are expressed in specific ocular compartments, creating tissue-specific microenvironments that guide lineage specification and functional maturation.

Human recombinant Biolaminin substrates support efficient, animal origin-free differentiation of pluripotent stem cells into retinal pigment epithelial cells, photoreceptors, and other neural retina lineages. Defined Biolaminin substrates reduce variability associated with undefined matrices, accelerate lineage commitment, and preserve structural integrity and functional marker expression.

Retinal Pigment Epithelium cells

The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) forms a monolayer of postmitotic cells located between the photoreceptors and Bruch’s membrane. Laminin isoforms 511 and 332 play pivotal roles in regulating the mechanical state and phagocytic capacity of RPE cells by differentially engaging integrins β1 and β4 to modulate epithelial contractility (Kozyrina et al., 2025).

Biolaminin 521 in combination with Biolaminin 111 enables robust, animal origin-free differentiation of pluripotent stem cells into RPE cells. Biolaminin 111 supports early cell attachment, while Biolaminin 521 promotes long-term maturation, polarization, and epithelial barrier formation.

RPE differentiation on Biolaminin substrates yields uniform, pigmented monolayers with characteristic hexagonal morphology, tight junction formation, and functional barrier properties, making this system suitable for both in vitro disease modeling and translational workflows (Reyes et al., 2016;2020).

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Corneal endothelial cells

Human corneal endothelial cells (CECs) form a thin monolayer of highly polarized, flattened cells. The basement membrane of the corneal endothelium, known as Descemet’s membrane, contains several laminin isoforms, including 332, 411, 511, and 521.

Biolaminin 511 and Biolaminin 521 support the adhesion and proliferation of human CECs. Biolaminin 511 improves the cell adhesion and cell density through the activation of the phosphorylated focal adhesion kinase (FAK) (Okumura et al., 2015).

Biolaminin 521 supports defined, animal origin-free differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into corneal endothelial cells. Cultures generated on Biolaminin 521 express characteristic endothelial markers and form organized cell layers with tight junctions, supporting use in corneal research and regenerative applications (Kethiri et al., 2025).

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Photoreceptors

Laminin isoforms 323, 523, and 332 are present in the matrix surrounding the rod and the cone photoreceptors. Beta-2 chain laminin has also been suggested to play a role in directing photoreceptor development where its spatial and temporal expressed throughout embryonic development and adulthood.

Biolaminin 521 in combination with Biolaminin 523 adherent system enables rapid, fully defined differentiation of pluripotent stem cells into photoreceptor progenitors. Using Biolaminin animal origin-free platform, photoreceptor differentiation is completed in approximately 32 days, providing a faster, scalable, and clinically relevant alternative to conventional 3D organoid approaches (Tay et al., 2023).

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Corneal epithelial cells

The corneal epithelium forms the outermost layer of the cornea. Its basement membrane contain laminin isoforms 332 and 511. The composition of the basement membrane differs between regions: the central cornea is distinct from the limbal epithelium, where laminin 111, laminin 332, and laminin α2β2 chains are present (Massoudi et al., 2016).

Conventional limbal epithelial stem cell (LESC) protocols typically require 3–6 weeks and rely on undefined matrices. Biolaminin 521 enables rapid, animal origin-free differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into LESCs, with epithelial morphology and LESC marker expression achieved within approximately 10 days (Roshandel et al., 2024).

Biolaminin defined system supports efficient and reproducible LESC commitment, providing a faster and more standardized alternative to feeder- or Matrigel-based methods.

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Key benefits of laminins in ocular tissue cell culture

Animal-origin free and chemically defined

Mimics native ocular basement membranes

Supports PSC-derived and primary ocular cell types

Improves reproducibility and scalability

Compatible with translational development

Application overview

Biorelevant differentiation of ocular cell types on Biolaminin substrates

We have compiled curated evidence from peer-reviewed publications showing that our full-length laminins support biorelevant differentiation of key ocular cell types.

In this application note, you’ll find data on animal origin-free differentiation of the following eye cells:

  • Retinal Pigment Epithelial cells
  • Corneal Epithelial cells
  • Corneal Endothelial cells
  • Photoreceptors

Read the application note

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Curated content to support your next steps

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