Biomarkers project awarded 50% chunk of the British Tinnitus Association’s biggest ever funding round

The two-year research project – led by Prof. Frances Williams, Professor of Genomic Epidemiology at King’s College London, and Dr. Christopher Cedderoth, Associate Professor in Hearing Sciences at the University of Nottingham – will use data from TwinsUK and the Karolinska Institute’s Swedish Tinnitus Outreach Project to look for biomarkers in the blood that can help to diagnose and/or predict who will develop tinnitus.

The funding represents 50% of the UK charity’s highest ever funding round. Delighted to announce the award, BTA Chief Executive David Stockdale underlined his group’s quest to find a cure for tinnitus. “Tinnitus research is dramatically underfunded and we’re committed to funding, supporting and lobbying for what’s needed to silence tinnitus once and for all,” said Stockdale.

Prof. Frances Williams said: “We’re really pleased to have been awarded a grant from the BTA, to allow us to take this significant project forward. We hope that using the large sample from TwinsUK will help us identify a blood molecule which will provide an objective, reliable indicator of tinnitus. This would allow the development of a blood test for tinnitus, leading to it being defined as a “disorder” rather than symptom, and providing an objective measure of a subjective condition.”

Source: BTA