Special edition of Journal of Neural Engineering now available

The current edition of The Journal of Neural Engineering features papers presented at the BEI's inaugural conference on Medical Bionics held in Lorne, 2008. [more]

PhD Student Awarded First place in IET South Pacific Final

Kyle Slater, a PhD student at the Bionic Ear Institute, was awarded first place at the IET South Pacific Present Around the World competition for his final year University of Melbourne Electrical Engineering project, SoundBeam.

SoundBeam is a highly directional speaker Kyle developed, that uses an array of ultrasonic transducers to generate a narrow beam of audible sound.

Eight state finalists from Australia and New Zealand competed in Adelaide on Friday 16 April for their place in the global final. Kyle will now represent the South Pacific region in the global final that will be held in London later this year.

Kyle is now part of the Music and Pitch team at the Insitute where his research will focus on a novel approach to improving music perception and appreciation for people with impaired hearing

Prototype bionic eye unveiled
30 March 2010

Bionic Vision Australia (BVA) today unveiled their wide-view neurostimulator concept – a prototype bionic eye that will be implanted into Australia’s first recipient of the technology. The BEI is undertaking safety studies as part of this consortium.

The prototype will deliver improved quality of life for patients suffering from degenerative vision loss caused by retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration.

Professor Hugh McDermott appointed Deputy Director

In February Professor Hugh McDermott was appointed Deputy Director of The Bionic Ear Institute. Professor McDermott has had a very distinctive and successful career with the Department Otolaryngology, University of Melbourne, working in the fields of Cochlear Implants and Hearing Aid development . He has devised and developed a number of commercially successful devices that help restore hearing for deaf and hearing impaired people.

These include a widely used speech processing software that has provided improved communication for over 150,000 cochlear implant users worldwide, and leading the team that devised and evaluated highly successful and widely used technologies for hearing aids.

Cell based therapy protects auditory nerves

Neurotrophins can protect auditory nerves from dying in the deaf cochlea. However, a safe and effective technique to administer the neurotrophins to the cochlea is yet to be found. Recent studies at the BEI using a cell-based therapy has taken a major step to overcome this problem. In a collaborative project between the BEI and Living Cell Technologies, we have shown that by implanting a bionic ear along with small capsules that contain tiny cells that produce and release neurotrophins into the cochlea, we can protect the auditory nerves from dying following deafness.

These exciting findings provide hope that in the future we can provide new strategies to protect auditory nerves in cochlear implant recipients. Image courtesy of LCT.

Bionic eye in sight thanks to $42 million

Leading Australian researchers have welcomed an announcement today by the Australian Government of $42M in funding to Bionic Vision Australia for the development of a bionic eye capable of restoring vision to the blind. The BEI is undertaking safety studies as part of this consortium. [press release]

(l-r) Prof Tony Burkitt, Prof Iven Mareels, Prof Peter Seligman, Prof Robert Shepherd
and Dr David Grayden

Early cochlear implantation affects the brain's auditory cortex and speech development

Recent research at the BEI has demonstrated that early use of a cochlear implant can restore the organisation of the auditory area and pathways of the brain, which are impaired with profound hearing loss. This area of the brain perceives sound and is critical to developing speech.

This research from our Auditory Neurobiology program was published in the Journal of Comparative Neurology [manuscript] and the New Scientist. [article]

The ICT for Life Sciences Forum launched

NICTA has launched the ICT for Life Sciences Forum which aims to facilitate collaboration and networking between the engineering, computing and medical science research fields.

The Bionic Ear Institute is a foundation sponsor of this initiative and our work in medical bionics is an example of the multidisciplinary research the forum aims to develop.

Medical Bionics Conference held in Lorne

On the 16-19 of November The Bionic Ear Institute hosted the inaugural conference 'Medical Bionics - a new paradigm for human health'.
Researchers in a range of disciplines as diverse as biotechnology, engineering, ICT, polymer science, nanotechnology and medicine presented their research. [more]

New Board members for BEI

Former Premier Steve Bracks and leading Medical Research Counsel Christina Hardy join the Bionic Ear Institute [press release]

Dr Ben Wei - winner of the 2008 Premiers Award

Each year the Premier's Award for Health and Medical Research is awarded to an outstanding Victorian postgraduate health or medical research scholar.
Ben's PhD investigated pneumococcal meningitis post cochlear implantation: assessing the risks and prevention and has received worldwide recognition with publications in several highly respected journals.

See Ben's articles in.. [BMJ] [Lancet] (subscription required to see full text)