Rachael Richardson
BSc (Hons), PhD 2001
Senior Research Fellow
P: +61 3 9929 8397
F: +61 3 9663 1958
E: rrichardson[at]bionicear.org
Dr Rachael Richardson is a Senior Research Fellow at the Bionic Ear Institute. Dr Richardson received a BSc degree in Biochemistry and Pathology from the University of Melbourne. She received her BSc(Hons) and PhD degrees from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research investigating novel genes for suppression of cytokine signaling in the Department of Cancer and Haematology. Since 2001, she has been a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Bionic Ear Institute. Her principle aims have been reversing deafness using neurotrophic factors and improving the nerve-electrode interface of the cochlear implant.
At the Bionic Ear Institute Dr Richardson works with a research team that includes Dr Andrew Wise, Prof. Rob Shepherd, Prof. Stephen O’Leary, Dr James Fallon, Brianna Flynn and Courtney Suhr. Dr Richardson has collaborative projects with Prof Cliff Hume from the University of Washington and researchers at the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, University of Wollongong, in particular Prof. Gordon Wallace, Dr Simon Moulton and Brianna Thompson. Current students supervised by Dr Richardson include Beatrice Sgro and Tian Tu.
▪ Protecting auditory nerves after sensorineural hearing loss
▪ Regenerating auditory nerve dendrites after sensorineural hearing loss
▪ Improving the cochlear implant nerve-electrode interface
▪ Gene transfer in the cochlea
▪ Protection of residual hearing during cochlear implantation
Targeted Regeneration of Auditory Neurons using Gene Transfer
Confocal image of the organ of Corti of the cochlea (top-down view) showing the response of auditory neurons (red) to neurotrophin gene expression mediated by adenovirus (green). The organ of Corti is indicated by the dotted lines. Other cells in the organ of Corti are shown in blue. Dr Richardson is investigating how dendrites from auditory neurons respond to localised regions of neurotrophin gene expression.
Image of the organ of Corti of the cochlea (cross sectional view) showing regions of gene expression following injection of adenovirus gene transfer vectors into the scala media of the cochlea. Neurotrophin gene expression (green) can be seen in the organ of Corti and spiral limbus. Other cells are shown in blue and red.
In her current research, Dr Richardson is investigating methods of controlling nerve regeneration after hearing loss by expressing neurotrophin genes in specific cells of the cochlea using viral gene transfer techniques.
Dr Richardson will determine whether more localized neurotrophin expression will create a ‘target’ or source of neurotrophins that encourages both nerve survival and regeneration towards the cells expressing neurotrophin genes.
Dr Richardson’s current funding is from the Royal National Institute for Deaf People and the Garnett Passe and Rodney Williams Memorial Foundation.
Research Project Links:
▪ Targeted regeneration of auditory neurons using gene transfer
▪ ACES Nano-bionics Program
In recent research, Dr Richardson collaborated with researchers at the University of Wollongong to improve the nerve-electrode interface of the cochlear implant. This research team developed and tested an electroactive polymer called polypyrrole (Ppy) into which neurotrophins such as neurotrophin-3 (NT3) and brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were incorporated. While there was minor leakage of the neurotrophins from the Ppy when no electrical stimulation was applied, neurotrophin release was greatly enhanced when electrical current from a cochlear implant was passed through the polymer. Dr Richardson discovered that the released neurotrophins were biologically active, supporting auditory nerve survival and neurite outgrowth.
Ppy was applied to cochlear implant electrodes as an electrode coating. When implanted into guinea pigs after sensorineural hearing loss, the stimulated polymer-coated electrodes protected auditory nerves from deafness-induced degeneration as well as implant insertion trauma.
Other staff and students working on the project included Prof. Stephen O’Leary, Prof. Rob Shepherd, Dr Andrew Wise, Dr James Fallon, Brianna Flynn, Alison Evans and Patrick Atkinson.
Collaborators: Prof. Gordon Wallace, Dr Simon Moulton, Ms Brianna Thompson (University of Wollongong)
This work was funded by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People, the Stavros S Niarchos Foundation, the John T Reid Charitable Trusts, and the Pierce Armstrong Foundation.
Research at the University of Wollongong was funded by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Sciences
An auditory nerve growing on polypyrrole with incorporated neurotrophins
1. RT Richardson, A Wise, B Thompson, B Flynn, P Atkinson, N Fretwell, J Fallon, G Wallace, R Shepherd, G Clark and S O’Leary (2009) Polypyrrole-Coated Electrodes for the Delivery of Charge and Neurotrophins to Cochlear Neurons (2009) Biomaterials 30: 2614-2624
2. RT Richardson, AK Wise, JK Andrew and SJ O’Leary. Novel drug delivery systems to treat inner ear diseases (2008) Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery 5(10); 1-18
3. Evans, A., Thompson, B., Wallace, G., Millard, R., O’Leary, S., Clark, G., Shepherd, R. and RT Richardson (2008) Promoting Neurite Outgrowth from Spiral Ganglion Neuron Explants using Polypyrrole/BDNF-Coated Electrodes Journal of Biomedical Materials Research: Part A (In press)
4. James, DP., Eastwood, H., Richardson, RT and S. O’Leary (2008) Effects of round window dexamethasone on residual hearing in a guinea pig model of cochlear implantation Audiology and Neurotology 13:86-96
5. Richardson, RT, Thompson, B, Moulton, S, Newbold, C, Lum, M, Cameron, A, Wallace, G, Kapsa, R, Clark, G and S O’Leary. The effect of polypyrrole with incorporated neurotrophin-3 on the promotion of neurite outgrowth from auditory neurons (2007) Biomaterials 28; 513-523
6. Pettingill, LN, Richardson, RT, Wise, AK, O’Leary, S, and RK Shepherd. Neurotrophic factors and neural prostheses: potential clinical applications based upon findings in the auditory system (2007) IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering Special Issue: Sensory Neural Prostheses 54(6); 1-11
7. Wise, AK, Gillespie, LN and RT Richardson. (2007) Neurofilament proteins in the cochlea: Changes in response to deafening and neurotrophin administration. In: (Arlen RK. (ed). New Research on Neurofilament Proteins; 1-24
8. Richardson, RT, Noushi, F and S. O’Leary. Inner ear therapy for neural preservation (2006) Audiol Neurotol 11;343-356.
9. Thompson, BC, Moulton, SE, Ding, J, Richardson, RT, Cameron, A, O’Leary, S, Wallace, GG and Clark, GM. Optimizing the incorporation and release of a neurotrophic factor using conducting polypyrrole (2006) J. Cont. Rel. 116; 285-294
10. Noushi, F, Richardson, RT, Hardman, J, Clark, G and O’Leary S. Delivery of neurotrophin-3 to the cochlea using alginate beads (2005) Otol. Neurotol. 26; 528-533
11. Wise, A, Richardson, RT, Hardman, J, Clark, G and O’Leary, S. Resprouting and survival of guinea pig cochlear neurons in response to the administration of the neurotrophins brain-derived neurotrophic factor and neurotrophin-3 (2005) J. Comp. Neurol. 487;147-165
12. Richardson, RT, O’Leary, S, Wise, A, Hardman, J and Clark, G. A single dose of neurotrophin-3 to the cochlea surrounds spiral ganglion neurons and provides trophic support (2005) Hear. Res. 204; 37-47
13. Newbold, C, Richardson , R, Huang, CQ, Milojevic, D, Cowan, R and Shepherd, R. (2004) An in vitro model for investigating impedance changes with cell growth and electrical stimulation: implications for cochlear implants. J. Neural Eng. 1; 218-227
14. Richardson, RT, Wise, A, O’Leary, S, Hardman J, Casley, D and Clark, G. (2004) Tracing neurotrophin-3 diffusion and uptake in the guinea pig cochlea. Hear. Res. 198 (1-2); 25-35
See more publications by Rachael Richardson in PubMed
