Free Radicals in ENT Pathology

This comprehensive volume examines the current state of free radical biology and its impact on otology, laryngology, and head and neck function. The chapters collectively highlight the interrelationship of basic and translational studies in each area, define the challenges to translation, and identify the existing basic issues that demand investigation as well as the opportunities for novel intervention to prevent and treat ENT pathology and impairment. In each chapter, or in some cases pairs of chapters, the author(s) have included or married issues of basic research with translational challenges and research, thus defining the pathway by which new basic insights may lead to interventions to prevent or treat impairment. The final chapter of this book reflects a meeting of all the contributors, culminating in a discussion and “white paper” that identifies the challenges to the field and defines the studies and collaborations that may lead to improved understanding of free radical biology in ENT and, subsequently, new interventions to medically treat ENT pathology.

Dr. Josef M. Miller is the Lynn and Ruth Townsend Professor of Communication Disorders at the University of Michigan and an Adjunct Professor at the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. He has worked in the area of hearing sciences for more than 30 years. His major area of research interest is in the neuroscience of the auditory system, including studies on the cochlear prosthesis, blood flow to the inner ear, prevention of noise-induced deafness, and prevention of degeneration and promotion of regrowth of the auditory nerve. He has led major research teams under the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Program Project support and for all of his career has held RO-1 funding for research on studies of the inner ear and CNS. Dr. Miller is responsible for developing research laboratories and major collaborative research programs between the USA and Europe on studies of tissue engineering of the inner ear and training programs for graduate students and medical residents.

Dr. Colleen Le Prell is an Associate Professor in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at the University of Florida. She received her doctorate in Psychology (Biospsychology area) from the University of Michigan followed by post-doctoral studies at the Kresge Hearing Research Institute. Her post-doctoral research emphasized the pharmacology of the inner ear, and was funded by a National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health. Current research programs in her laboratory at the University of Florida continue her long-term efforts to precisely characterize the influence of the lateral olivocochlear neurons on auditory nerve function, and extend a collaborative translational research program directed at prevention of acquired hearing loss, including hearing loss induced by exposure to loud sound. She has presented her research findings nationally and internationally, and has lectured on the challenges of translational research in Otolaryngology including a short course lecture to the Association for Research in Otolaryngology.

Dr. Leonard P. Rybak is a Professor in the Department of Surgery at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. He received his medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and completed his internship at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. He completed a residency in otolaryngology and also obtained a Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis. Prior to coming to the SIU School of Medicine, he was an Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Rybak’s research interests include growth of cochlear hair cells derived from Immortomouse (HEI-OC1, OC-k3 cells) in culture and mechanisms controlling free radical production within the cochlea.