The Passe & Williams Foundation has announced 17 awardees, including many doing ear research, who will share in its 2025 grants worth more than $4.5 million.
The Garnett Passe & Rodney Williams awardees will undertake projects in the fields of otology, vestibular, audiology, head and neck cancer, and otolaryngology head and neck surgery.
Ear-related research ranges from investigating cochlear implant gene therapy to virtual vertigo diagnosis, delivering drugs to the inner ear, evaluating transcranial magnetic stimulation for tinnitus, and otitis media research.
The funds will also help to translate EarGenie system to detect auditory responses in babies into clinical practice.
Recipients of grants for ear-related projects are:
Research scholarship:
- University of Melbourne scientist Ms Mardi Gammon will investigate reconnecting the ears to the brain. The Bionics Institute project will test and validate the therapeutic potential of combining two novel regenerative drugs to repair cochlear synapse damage. They will be delivered to the cochlea via a nanotechnology-based drug delivery system. If successful, it could support a human clinical trial of drug therapy and a delivery method to treat hearing loss.
Junior fellowships:
- Perth biomedical scientist Dr Sharon Clark from the Kids Research Institute Australia will investigate the body’s immune response to NTHi (Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae bacteria) in children with otitis media. Her PhD found immunological deficiencies in children with chronic and recurrent otitis media. This project will investigate why the deficiencies occur and what they mean.
- Bionics Institute scientist Dr Yingjie Hu from The University of Melbourne is working on a versatile platform for inner ear drug delivery. The solution uses nanoengineered particles, or supraparticles, to precisely and sustainedly deliver drugs to the inner ear, ensuring adequate concentrations are maintained over extended periods. The technology aims to enhance the effectiveness of corticosteroids, currently the best clinical practice for treating acute hearing loss but with inconsistent outcomes.
Mid-career fellowships:
- University of Sydney lecturer, auditory neuroscientist and Neuroregenerative Gene Therapy group head, Dr Jeremy Pinyon will investigate pivoting cochlear implant gene therapy using RNA technologies. He said hearing outcomes were variable for cochlear implants, largely due to the ‘neural gap’ between the bionic prosthesis and auditory nerve cells. Reducing this gap could enhance hearing outcomes, having an immediate impact by providing recipients with otherwise poorer prognosis the best possible outcomes. In combination with hardware development the technology could extend to achieve greater outcomes than exist, he added.
- Royal Prince Alfred Hospital neurologist, University of Sydney Associate Professor in Neurology Miriam Welgampola, and senior lecturer at the School of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering and IT, UTS Dr Mukesh Prasad aim to develop, validate, and deploy the first virtual expert system for vertigo diagnosis. Healthcare workers will input patient history digitally into the AI-powered Electronic Vestibular Assistant, receive a preliminary syndrome diagnosis and recommendations for specific eye examinations. An automated nystagmus detector and head impulse tool will help perform and interpret examinations. A ML algorithm will provide the likelihood of specific diagnoses coupled with treatment options.
Special project grant:
- These funds will help Professor Colette McKay from The University of Melbourne translate her EarGenie invention into clinical practice. Prof McKay, the Bionics Institute’s principal scientist and leader of its translational hearing program, developed the system to improve paediatric hearing tests and fast-track early intervention for youngsters with hearing loss. The non-invasive headband that closes with Velcro fasteners, is a harmless brain imaging system for detecting auditory responses in babies, infants and young children. It uses functional near-infrared spectroscopy to measure the brain’s response to sounds.
Academic surgeon-scientist research scholarship:
- ENT trainee Dr Nayellin Reyes-Chicuellar from The University of Western Australia will study the role of key brain regions, including the thalamus, auditory cortex, and prefrontal cortex, in sensory gating dysfunction and tinnitus. Sensory gating is a neural process that filters irrelevant auditory information. In tinnitus, this process becomes disrupted, leading to persistent perception of phantom sounds. By measuring brain responses and neural activity, she aims to identify how these circuits are altered in tinnitus and explore potential interventions. The research will also evaluate how applying repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) to specific brain areas to modulate neural activity can restore sensory gating functionality and alleviate tinnitus symptoms.
More reading
Passe & Williams Foundation – a legacy for good
Helping children and growing your practice
Passe & Williams Foundation award round opens for ENT research grants
