(Vienna, 03-03-2023) Erdem Yildiz from the University Department of Otorhinolaryngology received the internationally renowned Spoendlin Junior Award for young basic scientists in hearing research for his research work "Investigation of Inner Ear Drug Delivery with a Cochlear Catheter in Piglets as a Representative Model for Human Cochlear Pharmacokinetics". He was also awarded the Heinz Kurz Poster Prize of the Austrian ENT Society for this work.
Erdem Yildiz's project was able to gain new insights into the local drug application in the inner ear of a large animal model, which can be transferred to the therapy of patients with sensorineural hearing loss. The new method of drug application investigated by the research team provides an efficient alternative to previous clinically applied methods in order to reach precisely those auditory sensory cells with therapeutics that are responsible for speech comprehension. This is particularly important for patients who are hard of hearing or deaf, as it can help them to better understand speech and thus participate once more in social life.
The Spoendlin Junior Award is presented at the annual European Inner Ear Biology Workshop, which was recently held in Trieste, Italy. During the event, internationally leading research groups in the field of hearing discussed their latest results and facilitated a fruitful exchange, which is essential for the understanding of physiological processes in the inner ear and thus for the therapy of inner ear diseases. An international committee of outstanding scientists in the field decides who receives the Spoendlin Junior Award. Details of Yildiz's work can be found in the top journal "Frontiers in Pharmacology".
About the person
Erdem Yildiz is a medical doctor and hearing researcher at the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Inner Ear Research at the University Department of Otolaryngology, Medical University of Vienna. After completing his human medicine degree at MedUni Vienna in 2020, he began his PhD studies in Christoph Arnoldner's inner ear research laboratory. His research focuses on the preservation and regeneration of the inner ear function. His newly gained insights into the establishment and application of a large animal model in translational hearing research enabled Erdem Yildiz to conduct international presentations, such as at the annual mid-winter meeting of the "Association for Research in Otolaryngology" in Orlando (Florida, USA).
Publication: Frontiers in Pharmacology
Investigation of Inner Ear Drug Delivery with a Cochlear Catheter in Piglets as a Representative Model for Human Cochlear Pharmacokinetics. Front Pharmacol.
Erdem Yildiz, Anselm J. Gadenstaetter, Matthias Gerlitz, Lukas D. Landegger, Rudolfs Liepins, Michael Nieratschker, Rudolf Glueckert, Hinrich Staecker, Clemens Honeder and Christoph Arnoldner
Doi: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1062379