Suhrud M. Rajguru, Ph.D.

Therapeutic Hypothermia

My laboratory and collaborators (W. Dalton Dietrich and Michael Hoffer) at the University of Miami have been at the forefront of using therapeutic hypothermia applied locally to the inner ear to benefit patients undergoing cochlear implantation. Now we have expanded its application using a custom-designed device and a unique non-invasive approach to noise-induced hearing loss. Our work on therapeutic hypothermia has been published in multiple peer-reviewed studies and presented at national and international conferences.

The application proposes to carry out experiments that will test a novel combination therapy for enhanced protection of cochlear structures and residual hearing function. We have formed partnerships with neurotologists, audiologists, biomedical engineers and translational scientists with interdisciplinary expertise to address this major challenge in the field of cochlear implant research.

We have built partnerships with medical device and cochlear implant manufacturers, Lucent Medical Systems and Cochlear, which will provide critical regulatory and engineering support necessary to move this technology into operating rooms.

This work is funded by NIH and industry support to Dr. Rajguru: R01DC008846 and R01DC008846 (Holstein, PI).

Vestibular disorders: Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo

With Dr. Richard Rabbitt at the University of Utah, we have developed biomechanical and experimental models to understand, diagnose and treat one of the most common vestibular disorders: BPPV or Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo. We addressed in detail its pathology and examined the role of otoconia in the vestibular system in evoking the pathological symptoms. This work significantly enhanced our understanding of the disorder.