Amy Worrall ( Poster , Three Minute Thesis and Create Your Thesis )
School of Pharmacy and Bioengineering
Poster and Three Minute Thesis
Towards the Development of Early Intervention Diagnostics for Metabolic Age Related Hearing Loss
Age related hearing loss ( ARHL ) affects the majority of those over 65 years old , with available treatments unable to repair dysfunction or offer continued improvement as the illness progresses . However , research suggests that where degradation of cochlear fibrocytes is the leading pathology ( metabolic ARHL ), biological interventions are possible . As this pathology often precedes symptomatic hearing loss , it is feasible that detection and repair of such cochlear fibrocyte damage may allow ARHL to be prevented before it occurs symptomatically to any great degree i . e . before sensory cells are damaged and patients lose hearing . To facilitate this , a noninvasive early detection strategy for fibrocyte damage is required to enable timely intervention . Employing selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry ( SIFT-MS ) to catalogue volatile organic compound ( VOC ) profiles of healthy and unhealthy cells and their interactions , this research aims to identify cochlear fibrocyte death noninvasively and facilitate a real-time , pre-emptive detection method for ARHL . This research presents the first steps towards such non-invasive detection .
Create Your Thesis
The Sense-Saving SIFT ( a Dr Seuss-inspired short poem )
As we get older our senses might slow , We ’ ll notice our hearing is starting to go . Fibrocyte death may well be the source , And causes more damage within its due course . We might save hearing with these cells replaced , But only if early-on damage is traced . To find it we ’ re trialling the wonderful SIFT , A mechanical nose with a powerful sniff . We ’ re sampling ear wax for interesting smells , And things that can tell us the health of our cells . Developing this with the hope of a test , Take a sample of wax and let SIFT do the rest !
Postgraduate Conference 2020 Page 48