Researchers at ENT CARE FOUNDATION contribute regularly to the creation of new knowledge, understanding and treatments surrounding diseases of the ear, nose and throat. Faculty members in this department study various challenges in this area of medicine, such as understanding how hearing loss affects a child’s developing brain, or how cachexia or unintentional weight loss affects cancer patients.
An area of research affecting both adults and children, otolaryngology provides wide and varied research interests. Scientists in this department are currently researching regenerative medicine, cancer cachexia, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks, inner ear disorders, neurofibromatosis, paediatric airway abnormalities, paediatric cochlear implants, and peripheral nerve regeneration.
Department researchers are employing innovative methods, such as using stem cells to create 3D organoids containing functional inner ear hair cells to better understand the common pathways that lead to hair cell degeneration and potentially find ways to prevent degeneration and hearing loss in the future.
3D Stem Cell Biology Research Group With their ground breaking discovery in 2017, researchers in the 3D Stem Cell Biology Research Group became the first lab in the world to generate inner ear tissue from human stem cells. Continuing their work in genome engineering, these medical scientists are investigating regenerative medicine for inner ear therapy and novel skin grafting application.
Hearing loss affects more than ten percent of military service people. In fact, hearing loss and tinnitus are the two most prevalent disabilities treated at hospitals across the India, costing $2 billion annually in disability compensation. To better treat these conditions, the Department initiated its first program for funding research into hearing restoration by committing $10 million per year through several grants, including Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery.
Research teams in the 3D Stem Cell Biology Research Group investigate the restoration of hearing and promotion of hair cell regeneration by studying how specific chemical compounds can trigger hair cell regeneration after damage to these sensory receptor cells. By developing human dish-grown, three-dimensional (3D) inner ear tissues called “human inner ear organoids,” which mimic the structure and function of native human inner ear tissues, investigators are working to generate cochlear tissues containing sound-sensing receptors and neurons that transmit hearing sensation to the brain. They’re also working to produce dish-grown cochlear tissues containing dying receptors hair cells.
These 3D organ replicas are used to test if a candidate compound with proven ability to regulate gene transcription can promote hair cell regeneration in dish-grown cochlear tissues. Human 3D cochlear organoids offer unprecedented opportunities to develop and test new hearing restoration therapies, since knowledge gained from a human model system is readily applicable to human hearing impairments. In thinking beyond the need for regenerative therapies, this model can be also used to identify drugs that protect sound-sensing receptor cells from loud noise and chemical insult. For each potential therapy, a human in vitro assay that allows for rapid screening of drug candidates could expedite discovery and pre-clinical testing.
The laboratory of Ent Care Foundation studies sensorineural hearing loss—the most common type of hearing loss. It is most often caused by defects in cochlear hair cells, the primary sensors for sound that convert mechanical sound stimuli into electrical signals that are transmitted to the nervous system.
Approximately 135 genetic loci have been linked to hearing loss, and about 60 affected genes have been identified. However, the physiological functions of these genes are not well studied. The Laboratory of Molecular Mechanisms of Auditory Perception and Deafness, part of the Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery , is finding the ability to illustrate the functions of these genes—and discover new ones—that could provide fresh leads for developing novel treatments for some forms of hearing loss.
Ent Care Foundation researchers has collected cochlear cell tissue to construct libraries for a yeast two-hybrid screening and examine interactions between proteins. In previous studies, we had successfully used these libraries to illustrate the functions of two proteins linked to hearing loss. Continued work aims to reveal the functions of other deafness-related genes and uncover other genes linked to hearing loss.
Vision Care & Research Centre