Recipient organisationLeiden University Medical Center
Funding£10K
PeriodMar 2025 — Feb 2026
In plain English
AI plain-English summary
Inside the human cochlea, tiny molecular switches control which genes are active—and this project will map those switches for the first time using tissue from patients undergoing inner-ear surgery. Hearing loss affects over 500 million people worldwide, and many cases stem from genetic changes. But knowing which genes are involved is not enough: researchers also need to understand how those genes are turned on or off in the cochlea. Without that knowledge, diagnosing the root cause of hearing loss remains imprecise, and treatments cannot be tailored to individual patients. The team will use a state-of-the-art technique called Cut&Run to identify the proteins and regulatory elements that control gene activity in human inner-ear cells. The resulting data will be added to a new public database, RegCoch, for use by other scientists and clinicians. This is fundamental science—it will not produce a treatment tomorrow. But a clearer picture of cochlear gene regulation could lead to better diagnostic tests, earlier prediction of hearing problems, and, eventually, more personalised therapies to protect or restore hearing.
View original technical description
Background Hearing loss affects over 500 million people around the world, and many cases are linked to changes in the genes within our DNA. While we know about many of these genes, we don’t fully understand their role in the cochlea (the part of the inner ear which contains the cells that are important for hearing). In particular, we don’t know a lot about how the activity of those genes is controlled in the cochlea. Gaining this knowledge will improve our understanding of hearing loss and the processes that cause it, making it easier to accurately diagnose hearing loss and create treatments that work for everyone who wants them. Aim In this project, the researchers will investigate the processes, or ‘switches’, that control how genes in the cochlea are turned ‘on’ or ‘off.’ They will study samples of inner ear tissue collected from people undergoing specific surgeries that naturally result in the loss of hearing. Using a state-of-the-art genetic technique, they will identify gene switches and proteins that are active in the cochlea and involved in hearing, providing important information on how hearing loss develops. The data they obtain will be added to a new online database called “RegCoch” which will allow other researchers and doctors to use the information in their own research to understand hearing loss better and develop treatments. Benefit This research could lead to better tests for diagnosing hearing loss and more personalised treatments for hearing loss. It might also help us predict hearing problems early, giving people more options for prevention or care. Over time, this work could pave the way for new treatments to protect or restore hearing.
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