Ask Questions from Marcelo Rivolta, PhD, on Hearing Regeneration and Related Topics

[Markku]

Marcelo Rivolta, PhD, has been around in the regenerative hearing/stem cell research field for a long time. The Rivolta laboratory is dedicated to study the biology and behaviour of auditory stem cells (primarily human) and to explore their potential to regenerate the damaged inner ear.

You can find Marcelo's general profile here.

Hearing loss has substantial personal, social and economic implications. It is most commonly caused by damage to the sensory hair cells and/or the auditory neurons in the cochlea. One possible therapeutic path would be to use otic progenitors generated in vitro to functionally replace the damaged cells.

Our group has made key advances developing stem cell technologies into a potentially viable therapy. We isolated a population of stem cells from the human fetal cochlea, and we have developed robust protocols to drive otic differentiation from human pluripotent stem cells. We also have established the proof of concept that hESC-derived otic progenitors can repair the damaged cochlea. We demonstrated that transplanted cells can graft into an animal model of auditory neuropathy, and elicit functional recovery as measured by auditory brainstem thresholds.

In an integrative regenerative medicine strategy, we are now exploring the combination of stem cells with cochlear implants, aiming to develop a true bionic implant. This device should conceptually combine stem cells with stimulatory electrodes. For this we are developing animal models of cell transplantation and implantation. On a parallel strategy, we are also using stem cells to develop in vitro platforms that would facilitate drug discovery and analysis.

We have several collaborations with industry and academia, within the UK as well as worldwide. We are part of Otostem, an international consortium with partners in Stanford, Harvard, Geneva, Uppsala, Tübigen and Marseille.

As part of the Tinnitus Talk Podcast, @David and @Steve will be interviewing Marcelo later this month on location in Sheffield.

We would love to get your input for questions we should ask.

How do I ask questions?
Submit your questions to Marcelo directly via below form.



You can enter between one and three questions. If you want to enter more questions, you can submit the form more than once.

DO NOT post your questions (only) in this thread! We need them via the form to make the processing more manageable. In addition to filling the form, you can of course also add them in this thread if you would like others to see what you asked.

You can submit questions until Friday, May 24th.

 

[JohnAdams]

Regenerated hearing in mammals 7 years ago.

 

[Juan]

Just submitted some questions through the form.

 

[FGG]

This project of his, Rinri, sounds promising. Hoping he can tell us more...

https://www.eu-startups.com/2019/05...se-hearing-loss-through-stem-cell-technology/

 

[Adam0309]

In 2004:
"Dr Rivolta estimates that it will be between 10 and 15 years before such treatment could be made available, but he says the early indications are "exciting"."

Why has stem cell science progressed so poorly that 15 years later, we are still estimating 10 years for a viable treatment? What have been the main challenges that have been so hard to overcome?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4033383.stm

 

[Juan]

Why has stem cell science progressed so poorly that 15 years later, we are still estimating 10 years for a viable treatment? What have been the main challenges that have been so hard to overcome?

Good question! A similar one was on my list too. There are a lot of news about research with stem cells and also about drugs to fix hearing damage (NIHL) but these have been around for too long without any real results.

 

[derpytia]

Done

 

[Daniel Lion]

Registered my question concerning the contentious topic here... PRP... why not.

 

[erik]

In 2004:
"Dr Rivolta estimates that it will be between 10 and 15 years before such treatment could be made available, but he says the early indications are "exciting"."

Why has stem cell science progressed so poorly that 15 years later, we are still estimating 10 years for a viable treatment? What have been the main challenges that have been so hard to overcome?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4033383.stm

My point exactly for hearing regeneration and neuromodulation devices and therapies. We are never as close as it has always seemed. It is necessary to report some progress from time to time to keep the funding coming in.

 

[Coleoptere]

Why has stem cell science progressed so poorly that 15 years later, we are still estimating 10 years for a viable treatment? What have been the main challenges that have been so hard to overcome?

My bad thinking is that the research itself is a job as well. After a few hops you already reach retirement....

 

[bell]

In 2004:
"Dr Rivolta estimates that it will be between 10 and 15 years before such treatment could be made available, but he says the early indications are "exciting"."

Why has stem cell science progressed so poorly that 15 years later, we are still estimating 10 years for a viable treatment? What have been the main challenges that have been so hard to overcome?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4033383.stm

The same question that I asked. That 2005 claim should have been more cautious...

 

[Markku]

@Steve and @David interviewed Marcelo Rivolta yesterday - and what an AWESOME interview they were able to do!

Really informational and inspirational - when I started editing it, I couldn't stop to take a pause.

Of course, like always seems to be the case, there were a few technical hurdles (such as we expected to receive multi-track files from the podcast studio to make the editing process smoother, but their set-up had only saved a mixed down version of it with all the microphones in one file). And with Marcelo's microphone there were some issues.

But most of those hurdles I was able to deal with and content wise the end result is certainly of interest to many!

You can expect this episode to be released within the next two months - we already have a few episodes waiting publication and this will now be added to the list.

 

[Greg Sacramento]

I'm missing out because I can't watch videos due to the sensitivity of my ears.

 

[Markku]

I'm missing out because I can't watch videos due to the sensitivity of my ears.

We have transcriptions for all the podcast episodes, previous and upcoming, so no worries there!

 

[Greg Sacramento]

Thank you @Markku. I really want to get more informed on the hard work from Hazel, others and you. I would love to be able to listen to the videos from Lenire and those that told how they received improvement.

 

[Mario martz]

Wow, very exciting!!!

I have exchanged emails with Marcelo in the past.
Such a great dude.

Really looking forward to this podcast.

Good luck @Steve!

 

[Silvio Sabo]

In 2004:
"Dr Rivolta estimates that it will be between 10 and 15 years before such treatment could be made available, but he says the early indications are "exciting"."

Why has stem cell science progressed so poorly that 15 years later, we are still estimating 10 years for a viable treatment? What have been the main challenges that have been so hard to overcome?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4033383.stm

Reason: George W. Bush!

George W. Bush banned federal funding for stem cell research which set the field back many, many years.

 

[Reinier]

Has this been posted already?

https://hearinghealthmatters.org/he...i-stem-cell-hearing-loss-restoration-therapy/

Quote: "Rinri, a spin out of Sheffield University, is based on the pioneering work of Professor Marcelo Rivolta (Chen et al. (2012) Nature, 490: 278-84), a recognized authority in the field of sensory stem cell biology."

 

[Adam0309]

Reason: George W. Bush!

George W. Bush banned federal funding for stem cell research which set the field back many, many years.

I don't think that's right for the following two reasons. First, Bush banned embryonic stem cells. Second, he did so in the US only. Rivolta was working in the UK and was not using embryonic stem cells.

 

[Silvio Sabo]

I don't think that's right for the following two reasons. First, Bush banned embryonic stem cells. Second, he did so in the US only. Rivolta was working in the UK and was not using embryonic stem cells.

Well, the US were leading in the field at the time so cutting the funding killed and/or slowed down progress. Which set the field back a number of years.

 

[jeff W]

Well, the US were leading in the field at the time so cutting the funding killed and/or slowed down progress. Which set the field back a number of years.

I promise you it didn't slow it, the work just relocated outside the region, it was in fact the best thing to ever happen to embryonic stem cell R&D, it was free advertising as everyone in America was talking about it.

 

[Markku]

Our awesome host @Jack Straw has finished recording the intro for the Professor Rivolta episode, while I and @Hazel did a bit of an outro segment going over the current state of the podcast and some future episodes.

And now I'll be stitching everything together and doing final audio touch-ups for the next several hours or however long it takes.

Unless something unexpected happens, you can look forward to the episode being released tomorrow on Friday! Transcript of the episode will also be made available, as has been the case with previous episodes.

 

[Hazel]

As promised by @Markku yesterday, we published the Marcelo podcast!

Check it out and leave your comments here.