A milestone in hearing research: Researchers at the University Medical Center Göttingen and the University of Freiburg combine for the first time gene therapy in the cochlea with optical cochlear implants to optogenetically activate the auditory pathway in gerbils. Published in EMBO Molecular Medicine.
Optical cochlear implant in the cochlea of a gerbil: The Reconstruction of the spiral-shaped cochlea of a gerbil (grey) was generated by X-ray tomography images at the Institute for X-ray Physics (Prof. Dr. Tim Salditt) at the University of Göttingen. The spiral ganglion with the auditory nerve cells is shown in purple. The optical cochlear implant is shown in blue, the μLEDs are visible as blue dots. Source: Prof. Salditt, University of Göttingen
