The Helmut Ecker Eye Tissue Resource (HEETR) is one of Europe’s largest human eye tissue collections containing eye tissues from more than 1,200 donors.

Founded in 2015 in Manchester by Prof. Paul Bishop and Prof. Simon Clark, the eye tissue has been transferred to the University Hospital Tübingen under the custodianship of Prof. Simon Clark in December 2020.

The biobank contains human eye tissue from post-mortem eyes donated with consent for corneal transplantation and subsequent research use, including macula and peripheral biopsies stored in cryo-preservative. Each donor eye was phenotyped for retinal dystrophies and also genotyped for risk haplotypes associated with the common blinding disease, age-related macular degeneration (AMD). This resource has already contributed to major studies in AMD and other ocular diseases by supplying consented, anonymous, highly characterised human eye tissues to research groups around the world.