The Eye & Ear Foundation hosted a lunch and learn webinar where Philip Perez, MD and Thanos Tzounopoulos, PhD presented on advancements in tinnitus treatment and research taking place within the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Tzounopoulos is a Professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Otolaryngology, as well as a UPMC Endowed Professor of Auditory Physiology and the Director of the Pittsburgh Hearing Research Center. He works to understand tinnitus’ underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms and to advance potential treatments and pharmacotherapies for this currently incurable disorder. Dr. Perez

Dr. Thanos Tzounopoulos and his team within the Pittsburgh Hearing Resource Center at the University of Pittsburgh continue to make progress in their quest to develop a pharmacological treatment for tinnitus. Tinnitus is a condition where a person hears ringing, buzzing, chirping, or other sounds in their ears. The noise can be intermittent or continuous, and can vary in loudness. According to the American Tinnitus Association, over 45 million Americans suffer from this disruptive condition. Dr. Tzounopoulos, Professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Otolaryngology, recently published an article in the Journal of the Association for Research

Tinnitus Talk, “a podcast on all things tinnitus,” interviewed Thanos Tzounopoulos, PhD, director of the Pittsburgh Hearing Research Center on his research on developing a drug to treat tinnitus. His work builds on the previously somewhat successful off-label tinnitus drug Retigabine (Trobalt). That drug was taken off the market due to severe side effects. Thanos is now attempting to re-develop it, without the side effects, and better targeted at the source of the neural hyperactivity perceived as tinnitus. In this episode, we speak extensively about Thanos’ theory of how tinnitus is generated in the brain and the role of (broken)

The Eye & Ear Foundation collects support from donors like you to help propel research forward. Whether big or small, our donors’ gifts make a difference in the lives of patients and their families. One of our favorite stories that exemplifies the impact of continuous support in a given area of research is the story of how the Eye & Ear Foundation provided seed funding to Thanos Tzounopoulos, PhD and the team at the University of Pittsburgh which includes Peter Wipf, PhD, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemistry. This funding helped to secure larger grants from the National Institutes