ERC Proof of Concept Grant for Tobias Moser
(mbexc/umg) Tobias Moser, MD, Director of the Institute for Auditory Neuroscience at the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) received a Proof of Concept Grant of the European Research Council (ERC). The ERC supports his research project ”Waveguide-based Cochlear Implants for Optogenetic Stimulation“ (Opto Wave). The funding of 150.000 euros supports him in the transfer of research findings to close the gap between the discoveries from pioneering research and their practical application. The funding is part of the EU’s research and innovation program, Horizon Europe.
“OptoWave” builds on Moser’s pioneering work on optogenetic restoration of hearing in the “OptoHear” project, which was funded by an ERC Advanced Grant. “The funding for ‘OptoWave’ will enable us to move forward with the further development of the optical cochlear implant on its way to application for hearing-impaired people”, says Tobias Moser.
PROJECT “OptoWave”
Optical cochlear implants (oCI) promise to compensate for the function of missing or impaired hair cells in profoundly deaf and hard of hearing patients, thus aiming to restore near-natural hearing. The innovative approach envisions to combine an implantable medical device with a gene therapy medicinal product. The incorporation of light-gated ion channels into the auditory nerve enables its precise neural stimulation by light (optogenetics) produced by microscale light emitters, thereby bypassing the dysfunctional or absent hair cells. Studies in animal models promise that hearing with light enables a significantly more natural hearing impression than the electrical hearing prostheses used to date.
Initial studies of this principle have been successfully conducted by stimulation of the auditory nerve with blue light producing micro-LEDs. Due to the reduced risk of phototoxicity and improved tissue penetration, the use of lower energy red light would be more favorable. With “OptoWave” we aim to verify the feasibility of using red light optical waveguide modules in oCIs. Together with scientists from Chemnitz, Moser and his team have already been able to take first steps towards establishing this promising technology. The proposed waveguide-based optical module combines several favourable properties, which makes it a promising candidate for later clinical application. The optoelectronic emitters (laserdiodes) can be safely integrated in the hermetically sealed titanium package housing the internal electronics. The emitters thus do not need to be inserted into the cochlea, but send their light toward the optogenetically modified auditory nerve via waveguides.
“The design of the preclinical optical module will be done in close alignment with the requirement of a later-stage clinical oCI,” says Moser. The aim is to prove the feasibility of miniaturization and integration of the optical components.
Otolaryngologist and neuroscientist Tobias Moser is dedicated to the investiagtion of the elementary, lightning-fast and highly complex processes of synaptic sound coding as well as the molecular and cellular basis of hearing loss. Since 2008, he and his research teams have pioneered the establishment of the optogenetic cochlear implant to restore hearing. Moser is spokesperson of the Cluster of Excellence "Multiscale Bioimaging: From Molecular Machines to Networks of Excitable Cells" (MBExC)”. In addition to the Institute for Auditory Neuroscience at the UMG, he leads a research group as a Max Planck Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences (MPI-NAT) in Göttingen, and also has a joint appointment with the German Primate Center (DPZ), Leibniz Institute for Primate Research. Mosers work has already been recognized with various awards. Among others, he received an ERC Advanced Grant from the European Union in 2015 and 2022 as well as the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize 2015 from the German Research Foundation, the Ernst Jung Prize in 2017, the Guyot Prize 2019 as well as the "Great Science Prize 2020" from the French Fondation Pour l'Audition (FPA).
ABOUT THE ERC PROOF OF CONCEPT GRANT
The ERC Proof of Concept Grant is a complementary grant to the funding awards of the European Research Council (ERC). It is aimed exclusively at scientists who have already received an ERC grant and would like to build on this by bringing a research result from a current or completed project to commercial application. The aim of a Proof of Concept grant is to test and further develop the innovation potential of ideas from ERC-funded projects. An overview of all award winners in this round can be found at: https://erc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2023-01/erc-2022-poc-2-dl3-results_list.pdf.
FURTHER INFORMATION
University Medical Center Göttingen, University of Göttingen
Institute for Auditory Neuroscience and InnerEarLab
Cluster of Excellence Multiscale Bioimaging (MBExC)
Prof. Dr. med. Tobias Moser
Robert-Koch-Str. 40, 37075 Göttingen
Phone 0551 / 39-63071
tmoser(at)gwdg.de
about the Institute for Auditory Neuroscience: http://www.auditory-neuroscience.uni-goettingen.de
about MBExC: https://mbexc.de/
Cluster of Excellence Multiscale Bioimaging (MBExC)
Dr. Heike Conrad (Science communication)
Phone: 0551 / 39-61305
heike.conrad(at)med.uni-goettingen.de