Dysfunction of adult corneal stem cells located in the limbus can lead to painful ocular surface disease (OSD) [1]. Transplantation of allogeneic limbal tissue has a poor prognosis. Stem cells expanded ex vivo from alternative sources such as autologous oral mucosa [1] require the use of a scaffold material for transfer to the eye. We hypothesised that nanostructured porous silicon (pSi) could be used as a scaffold to transfer oral mucosal epithelial cells (OMECs) to the eye.