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New funding support from Passe & Williams Foundation for our talented hearing researchers
We are proud to announce three prestigious awards from the Passe & Williams Foundation for our talented hearing researchers.
The highly competitive awards went to Mardi Gammon who was awarded a Research Scholarship, Dr Yingji Hu who was awared a Junior Fellowship and Professor Colette McKay who was awarded a Special Project Grant.
Mardi Gammon
Mardi completed her honours degree through the University of Melbourne with the Hearing Therapeutics group at the Bionics Institute in 2024. Working with a team of experts and collaborators, her PhD will build upon her honours project.
Mardi shares:
My research project aims to test and validate the clinical potential of a combined therapeutic neurotrophin treatment, delivered using supraparticles, to repair cochlear synapse damage. My project will build upon the progress and developments we have already made towards clinical translation of our neurotrophin therapy and novel delivery system.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the Passe & Williams Foundation for this generous scholarship. This scholarship will support my early research career and will help with our efforts to develop a drug therapy for hearing loss. Mardi Gammon
Dr Yingji Hu
Dr Yingjie Hu is an early-career researcher in the Hearing Therapeutics team at the Bionics Institute. Her research focuses on the research and development of novel drug delivery technologies for hearing loss.
Yijing shares:
Our innovative solution uses nanoengineered particles, known as supraparticles, to precisely and sustainedly deliver drugs to the inner ear. This novel delivery system ensures that adequate concentrations of drugs are maintained over extended periods. Our project aims to use the supraparticle technology to enhance the effectiveness of clinically available corticosteroids, currently the best clinical practice for treating acute hearing loss but with inconsistent outcomes. By improving drug delivery, we hope to make a significant positive impact on the treatment of hearing loss, transforming clinical practice and patient outcomes.
I am incredibly honored and grateful to receive this fellowship from the Passe and Williams Foundation. The invaluable support will allow me to pursue the exciting project on developing a versatile platform for inner ear drug delivery. I believe our novel drug delivery strategy will bring meaningful contributions to the field of hearing research. Dr Yijing Hu
Professor Colette McKay
Professor Colette McKay is an international leader in the field of psychophysics with electrical stimulation, and her multidisciplinary research combines psychophysics, electrophysiology, imaging, speech perception, speech processing and mathematical modelling with the aim of improving clinical outcomes of auditory implants.
Colette shares:
Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a new technology that could help to fast-track early intervention for infants born with a hearing loss, resulting in improved language development for these infants. This project aims to pave the way for the introduction of fNIRS into audiology clinics by providing training opportunities and by working with audiologists to fine-tune how fNIRS would fit into their everyday practice.
I am so grateful to receive this grant from Passe Willaims Foundation to meet the challenge of translating a novel technique such as fNIRS into clinical practice . I hope that the outcome of this translation will benefit all future infants born with a hearing loss. Prof Colette McKay
