Source: Philine Wangemann, wange@vet.k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Emily Vietti, 785-532-2535, evietti@k-state.edu

Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2010

HEARING LOSS RESEARCHER GIVES 2010 RUDOLPH CLARENBURG LECTURE

MANHATTAN -- Jochen Schacht, director of the Kresge Hearing Research Institute at the University of Michigan, will deliver the 2010 Rudolph Clarenburg Lecture at Kansas State University's College of Veterinary Medicine.

The lecture will be at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 27, at the Mara Conference Center in Trotter Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Schacht has served on committees for the National Institutes of Health and has received numerous honors for his work, including being elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The goal of Schacht's research is to determine causes of and help prevent acquired hearing loss.

According to Schacht, his lecture "Hearing and Hearing Loss: From Bench to Bedside" will introduce the delicate organization of the inner ears, explore the major sources of acquired hearing loss, delineate molecular signaling pathways to cell death and outline potential treatment options.

"Hearing is our most sensitive sense and a basis for human communication," Schacht said. "Our ears can pick up the quiet rustling of leaves, recognize the voices of our loved ones -- and not so loved ones -- and enable us to enjoy the spectrum of sounds from a bass drum to a violin. Yet, our ears are also highly vulnerable, and hearing losses of significant severity affect more than 28 million individuals in this country alone."

The Rudolf Clarenburg Lectureship, established in 1996 to honor the late Rudolf Clarenburg, professor of physiology at K-State, brings nationally and internationally acclaimed scientists to the university to discuss their research. For more information, visit http://www.vet.ksu.edu/depts/ap/Clarenburg/index.htm or e-mail Philine Wangemann at wange@vet.k-state.edu.