Pauline Ashley Prize for 2008 awarded to UCL scientist
19 November 2007
This year's Pauline Ashley Prize has been awarded to Dr Lucy Anderson, a junior postdoctoral researcher working at University College London's Ear Institute.
Lucy is carrying out research into the central auditory processing pathways of the brain, in particular a direct pathway between one of the earliest stages of central auditory processing and the last stage before the auditory cortex. This pathway short-circuits the usual route for auditory signals in the brain and may represent a faster, more precise way for information to reach the auditory cortex. However, little is known about exactly how it works.
Lucy has been awarded the Prize to enable her to travel to the University of Salamanca in Spain. She will work in the laboratory of Dr Manuel Malmierca learning two new research techniques that will enable her to determine the final destination of this direct pathway, and to investigate the effects of turning parts of this pathway on and off. By using these techniques it will be possible to gain clues about the function of this pathway.
She will not only learn more about auditory processing in normally hearing individuals, but also create potential for future research into central auditory processing disorders and other human conditions affecting the perception of quickly changing sounds. Ultimately, gaining a better understanding of these processes is essential to help us to understand the hearing problems in the many children and adults suffering from auditory learning disabilities and central auditory processing deficits.
The Pauline Ashley Prize was established in memory of the charity's founder, Lady Pauline Ashley, and aims to encourage the most promising young scientists to start or continue research into hearing and deafness. The prize is awarded annually to an exceptional young scientist near the beginning of their career in hearing research, and enables them to gain valuable research experience in a leading research centre overseas, so that knowledge gained will be brought back to the UK to the benefit of the British deafness research community.
Lucy said of her award, "I am really excited to be given the opportunity to travel to a world-class laboratory to learn these new techniques first hand from researchers skilled in using these methods. There are few people in the UK with experience using these research techniques and I hope to be able to transfer the knowledge gained to colleagues on my return. I am very grateful to Deafness Research UK for granting me such a unique opportunity to further my research career."
