Hearing Health Summer 2015 Issue Summer 2015 | Page 8

HHF news

This is a picture of a frog inner
ear hair cell (green), with the
hair bundle on top and the hair
cell extending farther down
below the photo. The hair cell
is surrounded by supporting
cells (brown). In other species
besides mammals, supporting
cells are the source of
regenerating hair cells and
therefore restore hearing. The
Hearing Restoration Project’s
goal is to translate this ability
to mammals, including humans.

HRP Transitions Into Phase II
The Hearing Restoration Project (HRP) has been given
the green light to pursue several new projects in Phase
II of our Strategic Research Plan, advancing our effort
toward a cure for hearing loss and tinnitus. Through
what is known as pathway validation, researchers will
begin additional examinations of hair cell regeneration
in zebrafish, chickens, and mice. Additionally, there will
be a focus on bioinformatics, which is necessary in order
to analyze large data sets and cross-species comparisons.
(See “Distilling the Data,” page 22.)
While these new projects get started, discovery research
continues to be conducted in Phase I in order to address
gaps in our comparative analysis of regenerating (chick
and fish) and nonregenerating (mouse) models. We are
optimistic that these funded projects will advance our
collaborative research effort further into Phase II, and
ultimately toward Phase III (clinical trials). HHF is
seeking new funding partners to help support HRP’s
groundbreaking research toward a cure. If you or a loved
one can benefit from a cure for hearing loss or tinnitus,
please consider donating today at hhf.org/donate.

Special HRP Research Briefing
On May 21, HHF hosted its first live-video research
briefi