New Research Helps Shed light on How Hearing Happens at the Molecular Level
We hear sounds in part because tiny filaments inside our inner ears help convert voices, music and noises into electrical signals that are sent to our brains for processing. Now, scientists have mapped and simulated those filaments at the atomic level, a discovery that shed lights on how the inner ear works and that could…
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Pipeline Therapeutics Initiates Phase 1/2a Clinical Trial of PIPE-505 to Treat Sensorineural Hearing Loss
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA –Pipeline Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of first-in-class small molecules for neuroregeneration, today announced the initiation of a Phase 1/2a trial of the company’s lead product candidate, PIPE-505, a small molecule gamma secretase inhibitor (GSI), in sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) associated with hearing speech in noisy environments.…
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Research Finds Sense of Hearing Persists at End of Life
Hearing is widely thought to be the last sense to go in the dying process. Now University of British Columbia (UBC) researchers have evidence that some people may still be able to hear while in an unresponsive state at the end of their life. This research, published recently in Scientific Reports, is the first to investigate…
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New Study Charts Developmental Map of Inner Ear Sound Sensor in Mice
BETHESDA, MARYLAND — A team of researchers has generated a developmental map of a key sound-sensing structure in the mouse inner ear. Scientists at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), part of the National Institutes of Health, and their collaborators analyzed data from 30,000 cells from mouse cochlea, the snail-shaped structure…
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Researchers Use Advanced 3D Imaging to Map Blood Vessels of the Inner Ear
Swedish and Canadian researchers have used an advanced 3D imaging technique, synchrotron X-rays, to three-dimensionally map the blood vessels of the inner ear. To be able to study the blood vessels in the inner auditory organ, the researchers used the synchrotron system in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The system, which is one of eight in the…
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Prestigious Kavli Prize in Neuroscience Awarded to Trio of Researchers for Work on Molecular and Neural Mechanisms of Hearing
OSLO, NORWAY — The Kavli Prizes recognize scientists for pioneering advances and are presented every two years in the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience. Laureates are chosen by committees whose members are recommended by six of the world’s most renowned science societies and academies. This year, a trio of scientists have been awarded the 2018…
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Frequency Therapeutics Announces Successful Completion of First-in-Human Study of FX-322, Company’s Leading Candidate for Hearing Restoration
WOBURN, MASSACHUSSETTS – Biotech startup, Frequency Therapeutics, announced late last month the successful completion of a first-in-human study of the company’s investigative compound FX-322, the company’s lead Progenitor Cell Activation (PCA) candidate for hearing restoration. The preliminary results were recently presented at a lecture last month at the US-Japan Symposium on Drug Delivery. According to…
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Boston-Based Biotech, Akouos, Nets $7.5M Investment to “Restore and Preserve Hearing”
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — Biotechnology startup, Akouos, announced that it has raised $7.5 million in seed funding. The company, which was spun out of the Harvard Innovation Labs, is developing novel therapies and delivery systems to prevent hearing loss and restore hearing in genetically defined populations. New Enterprise Associates (NEA), who led the seed funding along…
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Using Laser Light to Restore Sound: Researchers Develop Optical Cochlear Implant
European engineers from Germany, Switzerland, and Austria have invented a new type of cochlear implant. Unlike traditional cochlear implants that stimulate auditory nerves with electrical fields, the prototype device uses laser pulses to trigger auditory signals from hair cells in the inner ear. The benefit, say the researchers, is a much more focused device that…
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Researchers Develop Ear-Worn Device that Could Lead to Improved Monitoring of Vital Signs
LONDON, ENGLAND – Researchers at the Imperial College of London (ICL) have developed an ear-worn sensor to monitor heart, brain and lung function. Their latest study, published in the Royal Society Open Science journal, suggests the device has the potential as a heart monitor and “opens up a range of new possibilities in the identification and…
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