About us
NIIOS stands for Netherlands Institute for Innovative Ocular Surgery. We are an independent organization that furthers innovation in ophthalmic surgery. Our primary focus is developing and refining corneal transplantation techniques for diseases such as Fuchs endothelial dystrophy, keratoconus and bullous keratopathy. Specialists worldwide are increasingly adopting these NIIOS-pioneered techniques.
Innovation Throughout the Corneal Transplant Chain
NIIOS comprises four organizations that work closely together and complement one another:
- NIIOS Research & Development – develops and refines corneal transplantation techniques that are minimally invasive.
- NIIOS Academy – trains surgeons and technicians in NIIOS techniques through fellowships, courses, symposia, conference lectures and more.
- Amnitrans EyeBank Rotterdam – recovers corneal tissue from donors, prepares it and then delivers it to medical specialists. We also develop our own innovative tissue preparation techniques.
- Melles Cornea Clinic Rotterdam – provides ophthalmic care to patients with primarily corneal disorders based on the techniques developed at NIIOS.
Together, these four organizations cover the whole corneal transplant chain, from the donor tissue at the eye bank to the patient. The short lines of communication inspire us to innovate and improve cornea transplant procedures. NIIOS is the only organization in the world that has these four disciplines in-house and under one roof.
Worldwide Impact
Since our founding in 2000, an estimated 20,000,000 people around the world have been successfully treated with NIIOS-developed surgeries and products (figure from 2015).
Get an impression of our departments on this page.
Our Mission
NIIOS aspires to stay the world’s leading center of expertise in the field of corneal surgery. We do this by:
- coordinating all the links in the cornea transplant chain: from retrieving donor tissue, to preparing it, to transplanting it;
- making optimal use of donor graft tissue (acquired altruistically) and minimizing its waste;
- improving the current state of both research and practice and remaining at the forefront of innovation;
- making these innovations accessible to a wide audience through a variety of educational activities;
- keeping our clinical outcomes after corneal transplantation at their current superior level; these outcomes are currently the best in the world, and
- continuing to work on improving aspects such as vision recovery, rejection rates and incidence of complications.
From NIIOS’s start in 2000 we aimed that in 2020 every ophthalmologist worldwide should work on a daily basis with at least one NIIOS-product: a surgical technique, medical device, drug, software, equipment item or otherwise.