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THE first eyeballs have been grown from stem cells in a laboratory.

A Japanese team floated cells from mouse embryos in a dish of chemicals that helped form optic cups with early stage retinas.

The hollow, ball-like structures were described as “extraordinary” and “remarkable” in the journal Nature, which published the breakthrough today.

Researcher Dr Yoshiki Sasai said the results had exciting potential to treat blinding disorders, such as retinitis pigmentosa.