But at CERA, an extraordinary program is redefining what it means to give, and the ripple effects are being felt by researchers and patients around the world.

The Lions Eye Donation Service (LEDS) has operated at CERA for decades. Cornea donation for transplant remains its primary purpose but its tissue banking program is an increasingly important option for donors and provides samples for eye researchers.

Dr Heather Machin heads LEDS, manages the Biobank, and works on her own research projects in tissue banking and nurse workforce development.

The Biobank, established in 2013 and upgraded in 2021, provides high-quality human samples from consented donors to ethics-approved researchers.

“If you donate your cornea to transplant, you help one person, which of course is amazing,” Dr Machin says. “If you donate your eyes to research, you could help hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people in the future.”

Transformative donations

Over the past year, the program has tightened its systems, built closer ties with researchers and expanded the reach of donated tissue across Australia and internationally.

LEDS recovers whole eyes, corneas and other eye tissue from donors at end of life, often within hours of death to preserve cellular integrity. The tissue goes into the Biobank – but often leaves within hours or days.

“Researchers frequently need fresh tissue before cells deteriorate, so many of our samples are quickly allocated to approved projects,” Dr Machin says.

“A single eye donation can serve multiple purposes. The cornea might go to a corneal researcher, while the remainder goes to a retinal specialist. That same cornea, once a project concludes, may be reallocated to another study entirely, maximising the impact of every gift.

“We also store tissue from people with rare eye conditions for future research. Without the Biobank, many research projects at CERA and beyond simply wouldn’t exist. And without human tissue, that research will never reach real people.”

Behind the process is a team of donor coordinators who match tissue donations with projects.

“A researcher might need samples from 10 eyes, but five from donors with no eye disease and five from donors who had a particular condition, and then there may be age requirements as well,” Dr Machin says.

“It can be quite complicated, so we encourage researchers to be as broad as possible in their criteria.”

The team stays in touch with researchers, checking if they are still using the tissue and if it can be passed on to another project. Using donated tissue is also reducing reliance on animal models, something the sector is actively working towards.

The Biobank team is focused on improving data tracking and building greater community awareness that research donation is a powerful way to help others. The service is also exploring how to give donors and their families more visibility over where their gift travels and what it achieves.

“They recognise that at the end of life, helping someone else is one of the most meaningful things you can do,” Dr Machin says.

“Many of our donors have lived with eye disease themselves or loved someone who did. Others just want to contribute to something bigger than themselves.

“We are eternally grateful for the contributions donors and their families make.”

This story was originally published in Creating the future in sight: Annual Review 2025.