Professor Robert Shepherd is the Director of the Bionic Ear Institute and a Professor of Medical Bionics in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Melbourne.

He received his Ph.D. in Otolaryngology from the University of Melbourne. Prof Shepherd’s doctoral thesis examined the safety and efficacy of multichannel cochlear implants and contributed to Cochlear Ltd’s successful FDA approval for the clinical use of a multichannel cochlear implant. Prof Shepherd has held international research appointments throughout his career at the Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, U.S.A.; Department of Physiology, J. W. Goethe University, Frankfurt a. M., Germany and Boys Town National Institute for Communication Disorders in Children, Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.A.

Early on in his career he was a mathematics and science teacher, and has continued his commitment to Australian education by teaching undergraduate students and the supervising 14 postgraduate students throughout his career to date.

Prof Shepherd has authored 145 peer-reviewed scientific papers and invited book chapters, given over 160 presentations at national and international conferences including 50 as an invited speaker. He has been the Principal Investigator on more than $5.3M of research funding including grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia and the U.S. National Institutes of Health. He continues to work closely with industry through research links with Cochlear Ltd. and Living Cells Technologies Ltd.

Listen to Prof Shepherd's podcast on Medical Bionics.

▪ Neural prostheses and their therapeutic applications
▪ Neurophysiological and histopathological effects of neural stimulators with particular emphasis on cochlear implants
▪ Rescuing and regenerating auditory neurons
▪ Neurophysiology and morphology of the auditory system
▪ Pathophysiology of ototoxicity
▪ Mammalian cochlear anatomy
▪ Drug delivery systems

1. Fallon, J.B., Irvine, D.R.F. & Shepherd, R.K. Cochlear implants and brain plasticity. Hearing Res. 238: 110-117, 2007.

2. Coleman, B., de Silva, M.G. & Shepherd, R. K. New neurons for cochlear implant recipients: The potential of stem cells for auditory neuron replacement. Stem Cells. 25: 2685-2694, 2007.

3. Wei, B.P.C., Robbins-Browne, R., Shepherd, R.K., Clark, G.M & O’Leary, S.J. Can we prevent cochlear implant recipients from pneumococcal meningitis? Clinical Infectious Diseases. 46:e1-7, 2008.

4. Tan, J., Widjaja, S., Xu, J. & Shepherd, R.K. Cochlear Implants Stimulate Activity-Dependent CREB Pathway in the Deaf Auditory Cortex: Implications for Molecular Plasticity Induced by Neural Prosthetic Devices. Cerebral Cortex. 18: 1799-1813, 2008.

5. Shepherd, R.K., Coco, A. & Epp, S.B. Neurotrophins and electrical stimulation for protection and repair of spiral ganglion neurons following sensorineural hearing loss. Hearing Res. 242: 100-1009, 2008.

6. Pettingill, L.N., Minter, R. & Shepherd, R.K. Schwann cells genetically modified to express neurotrophins promote spiral ganglion neuron survival in vitro. Neuroscience. 152:821-828, 2008.

7. Evans, A.J., Thompson, B.C., Wallace, G.G., Millard, R., O'Leary, S.J., Clark, G.M., Shepherd, R.K. & Richardson R.T. Promoting neurite outgrowth from spiral ganglion neuron explants using polypyrrole/BDNF-coated electrodes. J Biomed Mater Res A. 2008 Sep 23. [Epub ahead of print]

8. Coleman, B., Rickard, N.A., de Silva, M.G & Shepherd, R.K. A protocol for cryoembedding the adult guinea pig cochlea for fluorescence immunohistology. J Neurosci Meth. 176(2): 144-151, 2009.

9. Backhouse, S., Coleman, B., & Shepherd R. Surgical access to the mammalian cochlea for cell-based therapies. Exp Neurol. 214: 193-200, 2008.

10. Fallon, J.B., Irvine, D.R.F. & Shepherd, R.K. Cochlear implant use following neonatal deafness influences the cochleotopic organization of the primary auditory cortex in cats. J Comp Neurol. 512(1): 101, 2008.

See more publications by Robert Shepherd in PubMed


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