resize text
The winner of the 2011 Pauline Ashley Prize is announced
The prestigious Prize, which is awarded annually to enable a young scientist to gain international research experience, will fund Dr Gander to visit a leading laboratory in the USA to learn a new technique for analysing brain activity in people with tinnitus. The Pauline Ashley Prize was established in memory of the charity's founder, Lady Ashley of Stoke, and this year's award has been generously sponsored by Puretone Ltd. During his visit, Dr. Gander will learn sophisticated new methods of analysing brain activity in tinnitus patients from the world renowned expert, Professor Fatima Husain at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He will then travel to the internationally acclaimed laboratory of Professor Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to discuss links to their brain network imaging studies. The research will use functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) of patients' brains to look for patterns of connections between different areas in the resting state to see if this is disordered in people with tinnitus. Dr Gander will also look to see if inter-regional connectivity is different depending on the severity of symptoms and how it is affected by available treatments. It is hoped that this knowledge will lead to effective, targeted treatments for people suffering from tinnitus in the future. Dr Gander says 'This grant will give me a great opportunity to learn from some incredible researchers in the United States and bring the techniques back to continue my research in the UK.' On his return to the UK, Dr Gander will train members of the research group in Nottingham including a Deafness Research UK funded PhD student in these new techniques which are not currently available in the UK.
