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Yehoash Raphael, Ph.D.


A radical idea to restore hearing

  FACT BOX
Director, Otopathology Laboratory
The R. Jamison and Betty Williams Professor of Otolaryngology
Research Interests: Inner ear biology, inner ear gene transfer, protection repair and regeneration in the inner ear, cochlear implant-tissue interactions, stem-cell therapy, hereditary inner ear disease
Ph. D.: Tel Aviv University, 1988
Complete Bio

Hair cells in the ear are essential to hearing and balance. Unfortunately, these delicate cells are easily damaged and destroyed by aging, overexposure or certain medications.

In humans and other mammals, auditory hair cells don’t replace themselves, and therefore deafness is permanent. Currently, physicians have no biological therapy to help millions of people who have lost their hair cells.

In a recent breakthrough, Raphael’s research team found a way to restore hair cells and hearing in deaf guinea pigs, by injecting into the inner ear a gene that triggers the growth of hair cells during embryonic development.

Applicability to the human ear is limited by complex surgical access and potential side effects. Also, new hair cells cannot be induced to grow in ears with severe tissue damage. Therefore, Raphael’s laboratory is developing methods for inserting stem cells that will become new hair cells.

“The integration of stem cells in the ear is a challenge that calls for radical and innovative solutions,” says Raphael, adding that traditional funding for such risky approaches are usually unavailable.

Raphael cautions that clinical applications of this technique are still many years away. However, potential benefits for treating hundreds of millions worldwide are exciting.

The Taubman Institute grant makes this work possible, says Raphael, and paves the way for funding from other sources.

Research Findings: