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

Ocular trial 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.

Full-length 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) is a monolayer of postmitotic cells located between the photoreceptors and Bruch’s membrane. A key function of RPE cells is the daily phagocytosis of shed photoreceptor outer segments, enabling continuous renewal of these light-sensing structures and supporting photoreceptor viability and visual sensitivity.

hPSC-RPE cells differentiated on Biolaminin 521 and 511 display hallmark structural and functional characteristics of native RPE. Cells cultured on Biolaminin substrates show enhanced migration, polarization, functional secretion and phagocytic activity, along with improved barrier integrity and expression of functional RPE markers. Notably, Biolaminin 521 provides a biorelevant microenvironment that supports long-term in vivo integration, highlighting its potential for producing functionally competent RPE cells with translational potential (Plaza Reyes et al., 2016).

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Corneal endothelial cells

Human corneal endothelial cells (CECs) form a thin monolayer of highly polarized, flattened cells.

Biolaminin 511 and 521 support the adhesion and proliferation of human CECs, while Biolaminin 511 further enhances cell adhesion and density through activation of phosphorylated focal adhesion kinase. Compared to control surfaces, human CECs show preserved proliferative potential and higher saturation density when cultured on Biolaminin 511 or 521(Okumura et al., 2015). Cells generated on Biolaminin 521 form organized layers with tight junctions and express characteristic endothelial markers (Kethiri et al., 2025).

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Photoreceptors

Photoreceptor cells in the retina, consisting of rods and cones, absorb light photons and relay visual signals to the brain for perception (Kolb, 1995).

Recombinant full-length laminin 521 combined with 523 support efficient photoreceptor differentiation of hPSCs and progenitors’ markers expression by mimicking the native photoreceptor niche (Tay et al., 2023). These defined laminin substrates enable efficient and defined differentiation of PSCs into photoreceptor progenitors within just 32 days (Tay et al., 2023). In contrast to most retinal organoid protocols—which often require more than 100 days of differentiation and rely on undefined culture conditions—laminin-based systems offer improved reproducibility and greater potential for clinical translation.

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Corneal epithelial cells

The epithelium constitutes the most external layer of the cornea. It is composed of three cell layers: the basal, intermediate, and superficial layers.

Biolaminin 521 supports the generation of hPSC-derived limbal epithelial stem cell–like populations by promoting key limbal stem/progenitor and epithelial markers while maintaining low levels of differentiated corneal markers. Biolaminin 521 also enhances adhesion and proliferation, enabling efficient differentiation with early epithelial morphology, loss of pluripotency, and consistent expansion and recovery after cryopreservation while preserving phenotype and differentiation potential. Functionally, these cells exhibit enhanced migration and wound closure capacity, demonstrating effective epithelial repair (Hongisto et al., 2017; Vattulainen et al., 2021).

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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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