A Step Closer in the Fight Against Age-Related Hearing Loss

A bridging grant from national charity Deafness Research UK is helping scientists to continue their ground breaking work into age-related hearing loss while awaiting the start of their next funding award. Project leaders Dr Sally Dawson and Dr Jonathan Gale, both UCL Ear Institute Researchers have been awarded a new three
year grant from the Wellcome Trust following a successful 18 month project originally funded by Deafness Research UK. The charity also provided a vital bridging grant for Dr Emily Towers, a key member of their team – to ensure Dr Towers could keep working on the project in the laboratory prior to the start of new funding from
the Wellcome Trust.

The research will continue to study the role the gene caprin-1 plays in the response of inner ear (cochlear) hair cells to stress. The original Deafness Research UK grant included enabling Dr Towers to visit a laboratory in the USA to learn a technique to deliver the caprin-1 gene into hair cells in a dish using viral technology. She has been able to successfully transfer the technique to the UCL Ear Institute laboratory in London and pass on the knowledge to staff – all thanks to the charity’s funding.

Rachel Macdonald, Research Development Manager at Deafness Research UK said: “A key part of our work is in ensuring that the most important hearing research continues and is not allowed to fail for want of funding. This new research is some of the most promising to have come along in recent years and we are committed to ensuring well-trained researchers are kept within the profession”