StemSight's story began from a real clinical need from ophthalmic surgeons - and a bold group of visionary scientists. 

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But first, let's move back in time to the year 2005. The grand-old-lady of stem cell research Professor Outi Hovatta from Karolinska Institutet was invited to Tampere, Finland, to set up a state-of-the-art research facility Regea with the aim to develop high-quality cellular medicines for clinical applications. As one of the first researchers to join Outi, was Heli Skottman. Heli later established her own research group - the Eye Regeneration Group, solely focusing on using pluripotent stem cells for eye applications. The Skottman Lab was among the first researchers to differentiate these cells to human retinal pigment epithelial cells and has later pioneered the xeno-free and feeder-free cell culture methods for pluripotent stem cells. 

 

In the beginning of 2010's, Finnish cornea clinicians turned to Heli with another problem. Would it be possible to find a cure for their untreatable patients suffering from limbal stem cell deficiency? And, soon enough, the first patent application for differentiation of limbal stem cells was filed.

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Over the years, the original methods were refined and expanded, and the team grew with new talents across disciplines from engineering and biology. The close contact with cornea clinicians remained, and the vision for restoring sight to their patients became the guiding principle for the entire team.

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In 2021, the technology had matured to a point where publicly-funded academic research could support it no longer. Driven by a purpose for seeing the technology fulfill its potential to transform patient's lives, four scientists from Skottman Lab established the company StemSight.