Biomedical scientists give man his sight back

Stem cell research carried out by biomedical scientists has enabled a man who was left partially sighted after intervening in a fight to recover his vision.

In 1994, Russell Turnbull lost most of the sight of his right eye after being sprayed in the face with ammonia while trying to break up an altercation on a bus, the Times reports.

The 38-year-old was left with pain, extreme sensitivity to light and cloudy vision.

However, a team from the North East England Stem Cell Institute – which is a collaboration between Newcastle and Durham Universities, as well as Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and other partners – have managed to correct much of the damage.

They used stem cells from his left eye to repair the injured one and, a year and a half after the procedure, Mr Turnbull is not almost pain-free and has dramatically improved sight.

He remarked: “This has transformed my life, my eye is almost as good as it was before the accident.”