Advancing Hearing and Balance Research Using Auditory and Vestibular Organoids (R21-Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

The Advancing Hearing and Balance Research Using Auditory and Vestibular Organoids (R21-Clinical Trial Not Allowed) grant is an initiative by NIDCD aimed at promoting research mainly into the creation, characterization, and reliability of human auditory and vestibibular organoids. This grant allows for proposals to include research on animal organoids but only in conjunction with a comparative study or another integrated study involving human organoids. Singular studies focusing solely on animal organoids will not be considered for funding.

This initiative aims to encourage the development of innovative, novel methods and technologies that will enhance the longevity and reproducibility of scientific models using hearing/balance organoids. There is a strong recommendation for the development of new tools that can help in the gene, protein, molecule, and synthetic delivery. This should ideally increase the organoid population's sustainable expansion and long-term survival in a consistent and repeatable way.

This grant expects the characterization of organoid structures to closely imitate and reproduce their native biological function. It highly recommends applications that include strategies that can overcome existing obstacles and reduce difficulties to better the stability and reproducibility of current methods. Breakthrough methodologies and technology applications dealing with human auditory/vestibular organoids are particularly encouraged.