Translating technology, Transforming livesAutumn 2018

Bionic connections

Over 8,000 Australian babies and young children under 5 years have a permanent hearing loss that could severely impair language development with life-long impacts on their education, employment, and social participation.

Unfortunately, there are often significant delays between diagnosis and the selection and accurate adjustment of hearing devices (cochlear implants or hearing aids).

Professor Colette McKay is leading the development of an innovative clinical system, EarGenie™, for personalised management of hearing impairment that aims to optimise language development. EarGenie™ uses several measures of neural activity including optical brain imaging, to perform a detailed diagnostic evaluation of a child’s hearing. At diagnosis, EarGenie™ can enable a more accurate and complete hearing assessment so that an appropriate hearing device can be confidently selected, evaluated and fine-tuned to optimise each child’s hearing. It will also enable clinicians to evaluate a child’s language development, guiding device choice and adjustments and allowing individualised language therapies.

In April, this research program received a welcome boost with funding through the Australian Government’s BioMedTech Horizons program. Professor Colette McKay was delighted to have her project selected and as one of 11 funded in the inaugural round of this $35 million program.

“This Australian Government funding will foster our relationships with industry and clinical partners, and bring us closer to our goal of introducing EarGenie into Australian audiology clinics”, Colette said.

In the newsDeveloping novel therapeutics to treat hearing lossDr Andrew Wise, one of our senior research fellows, was featured in the Herald Sun on Saturday 27th January 2018. The article highlighted his work in developing novel therapeutic approaches to treat hearing loss.

Miracle Hospital TV seriesDr Wesley Thevathasan, Neurologist and the Bionics Institute’s Lions International Neurobionics Fellow was featured in an episode of National Geographic’s ‘Miracle Hospital’ on Saturday April 21st 2018. The episode featured Dr Thevathasan helping a patient with Parkinson’s Disease.

Improving outcomes for hearing-impaired children

Child wearing optical brain imaging cap in the Bionics Institute’s hearing laboratory.

A word from our CEO

Since my arrival last May I have been amazed by the extraordinary work our scientists are performing in developing a range of new devices for Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, inflammatory bowel disease, and early deafness diagnosis, to name a few. To create new technologies for intractable health problems, we must raise funds from many sources. I’d like to highlight recent government funding and donations that have brought us closer to achieving our goals.

On April 17, the Federal Health minister, Mr Greg Hunt, announced the outcomes of the inaugural BioMedTech Horizons grant program. We were honoured that our EarGenie™ project was one of the 11 groups to receive funding. This project is developing an innovative clinical system to assess hearing and language development in hearing-impaired infants.

I would especially like to acknowledge the generosity of an anonymous donor who made a gift to establish our first Clinical Hearing Research Fellow to enhance the EarGenie™ project. Despite these recent boosts to this research program, we still need further funding to bring this product to the clinic.

We are very grateful for a generous donation from the Bertalli family to establish the Diana and Neville Bertalli Research Fellowship. The first Fellow will be Associate Professor James Fallon, the Institute’s recently appointed Research Director. The Bertalli family has had a long association with the Bionics Institute, and this new Fellowship shows their continuing and unstinting support for our research.

I am extremely proud of the work we are doing, and look forward to keeping you informed of the progress of our research through this newsletter and social media.

Thank you for your ongoing support. Kind regards

Robert Klupacs Bionics Institute CEO

The high costs of hearing lossMost adults can relate to having difficulty understanding conversations in a noisy environment, such as a busy restaurant.

We can hear that words are spoken but can’t quite make out what was said. This is the first overt sign of damage to our inner ears – they are no longer able to convey the rich complexity of sounds from our environment. Although this is troublesome, a visit to the doctor might indicate a mild hearing loss for which there is no treatment.

For most people, the gradual loss of hearing will continue until they are no longer able to hear that words were indeed spoken. Another trip to the doctor might lead to a recommendation for a hearing aid, or if the hearing loss is more significant, a cochlear implant. However, these devices cannot repair the permanent damage that has occurred and difficulties in communication remain common despite their use.

For an ageing population, progressive hearing loss can have significant ramifications. We are just beginning to fully appreciate the profound and wide reaching implications that hearing loss can have on one’s life. Beyond the well-documented problems of greater difficulties in education and reduced earning potential, there are wider implications that are linked to mental health. The impact on mental health is driven by the fact that the capacity for people to communicate effectively with others becomes significantly diminished, leading to social isolation and loneliness, which are well-established risk factors for depression and dementia.

At the Bionics Institute, Dr Andrew Wise and his research team are developing technology that we believe will be a game changer in the use of drug therapies to treat inner ear damage. Together with collaborators at the University of Melbourne, Andrew is using nano-engineered particles ‘loaded’ with nerve survival factors (called neurotrophins) to prevent the progression of hearing loss.

Dr Andrew Wise.

Left to right: A/Prof James Fallon (Research Director), Mrs Diana Bertalli, Mr Neville Bertalli, Mr Robert Klupacs (CEO).

Philanthropic support to advance hearing researchThe Bionics Institute is pleased to announce the award of three Conjoint Grants from the Garnett Passe and Rodney Williams Memorial Foundation (GPRWMF) to support hearing research.

The goal of the Foundation’s Conjoint Grants is to translate scientific research into improved clinical practice by fostering collaboration between researchers and clinicians. The GPRWMF has supported research in otolaryngology, head and neck surgery in Australasia for more than 25 years.

One of the projects supported by the GPRWMF plans to investigate if a light source can be used to stimulate auditory neurons instead of using electrical current (as presently provided by cochlear implants). Dr Richardson and Professor Stephen O’Leary, the William Gibson Chair of Otolaryngology at the University of Melbourne and clinician at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, will use a cutting-edge technique called ‘optogenetics’.

The ability to focus light stimulation with greater precision compared to electrical stimulation could improve the clarity of sounds transmitted by cochlear implants. Because electrical current spreads over a broad group of neurons, the sound signal gets ‘blurred’. The ultimate aim of this research is to allow users of cochlear implants to hear more complex sounds, like music, and improve speech understanding in noisy environments.

The Bionics Institute thanks the GPRWMF for their support and congratulates the researchers and clinicians for their success in this highly-competitive funding round.

New appointmentsThe Bionics Institute is very pleased to announce the appointment of two new leadership roles.

The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Research Director will work in close collaboration with our CEO to drive the development of new and improved medical bionic technologies to transform people’s lives.

Our CTO, Professor Hugh McDermott, has an extensive background in cochlear implant innovation and brings over 35 years of experience in signal processing, clinical studies, and electronic design to our research programs. Since joining the Bionics Institute in 2010, Hugh has been instrumental in the development of an advanced deep brain stimulation system aimed at improving therapy for people with movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.

Our Research Director, Associate Professor James Fallon, heads the Institute’s internationally-recognised pre-clinical hearing research program. Primarily focussing on improving outcomes for cochlear implant users, James is also heavily involved in our neurobionics and vision research streams. He has a special interest in understanding how the brain changes with deafness and integrates electric and acoustic hearing.

The Bionics Institute is very pleased to welcome Dr Erol Harvey as Strategic Advisor. Erol has been involved in the commercial and scientific development of micro- and nano-technology for more than 30 years. He will assist us in our goal of providing ground-breaking early technology advancements into clinically-validated products to transform the lives of patients with debilitating diseases.

Bupa Emerging Health Researcher AwardOn 16 March 2018, our CEO Robert Klupacs accompanied Research Fellow, Dr Thushara Perera, to a breakfast event in Sydney for the announcement of the winner of the Bupa Health Foundation Emerging Health Researcher Award 2017.

Dr Perera was one of six finalists selected from a pool of more than 120 nominees for this prestigious award, which recognises future leaders in Australian health and medical research.

Dr Perera, an engineer who completed his PhD in 2014, works closely with neurologists, neurosurgeons, physiotherapists and other engineers to develop clinical tools to help optimise and guide treatment for movement disorder patients.

Dr Perera describes his research

The Bionics Institute congratulates Dr Amanda McCullough from Bond University who won the award for her work in preventing antibiotic resistance.

Dr Rachael Richardson.

Dr Thushara Perera.

Prof Hugh McDermott (left) and A/Prof James Fallon.

Dr Erol Harvey (left), Robert Klupacs, CEO.

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Workplace giving The Bionics Institute is a registered charity of Good2Give. Good2Give workplace giving enables employees to make pre-tax donations to registered charities direct from their pay.

Raising awareness Donor List The Institute would like to thank the following individuals, organisations, trusts and foundations that have donated over $200 since January 2018.

• Colonial Foundation• Victorian Lions Foundations• The Garnett Passe and

Rodney Williams Memorial Foundation• Capita Foundation• AFL Players’ Association• Mr & Mrs Neville & Diana Bertalli• Dr Michael Allam• Mr Faleh Ashir• Mr & Mrs John & Lesley Bailey• Mr Michael Cohn• Mrs Pauline Powell OAM• Mr & Mrs Campbell & Judy Sinclair• Mr & Mrs Robert & Beverley Squire• Mr & Mrs Peter & Deryn Thomas• Mr Stephen Wargula • Miss B M Webb

Your donations and contributions are vital for helping us to transform lives.

Your gift will support our dedicated research teams with their projects, equipment purchases and research fellowships. If you would like to help, then please visit our website to make an online donation www.bionicsinstitute.org or contact us directly on (03) 9667 7500.

Call for research participantsAre you the parent or guardian of a child between the ages of 2 months and 5 years? We are currently seeking children in this age group, with normal hearing, to participate in a research project that aims to improve the early language development in children born with hearing loss.

If you would like more information about the project, please contact Professor Colette McKay on 9667 7522 or email the hearing study team at hearingstudy@bionicsinstitute.org.

Are you an adult with tinnitus? We are currently seeking individuals over 18 with tinnitus. Tinnitus is the perception of sounds (ringing, buzzing, static) when there is no external sound present. We are specifically looking for people who are able to modify their tinnitus using head, neck or eye movements or have other ways of modifying their tinnitus.

If you are interested in taking part or would like to know more information, please contact Nicola Horvath at nhorvath@bionicsinstitute.org or phone 9667 7515.

Happy International Women’s Day from the Bionics Institute (March 8).

The Bionics Institute went purple in support of Epilepsy Awareness Day (March 26).