According to Creighton University, the university has landed the largest National Institutes of Health grant in its history, a renewal worth nearly $10.9 million that will fund five more years of hearing research at the Dr. Richard J. Bellucci Translational Hearing Center. The money will help the center keep training early-career scientists and expanding a research program that now spans three local institutions.
The renewal is part of the NIH's Center of Biomedical Research Excellence program, known as CoBRE. The Omaha World-Herald reported that the program helps newly independent researchers pursue major awards and establish labs through mentorship and shared resources; an archived copy of the same report is also available. The outlet reported that Peter Steyger, professor and director of the Bellucci center, said the renewal would help Creighton continue building its hearing research program and broader research enterprise.
The hearing center is based at Creighton but also includes researchers from Boys Town National Research Hospital and the University of Nebraska Medical Center, according to the outlet's reporting. That three-way collaboration traces back to the center's original award, which Creighton described in 2021 as a working partnership between the Translational Hearing Center, Boys Town National Research Center and the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
A Track Record Built on Early-Career Scientists
As reported by Creighton University, since the center received its initial grant in 2021, five early-stage researchers have completed the program and secured NIH R01 research awards, the archived report states. The center currently supports three additional early-stage researchers who have submitted proposals for R01 grants or equivalent funding, the same account notes.
The center has expanded from fewer than a handful of labs to ten over the past five years, according to Creighton's account. Allison Coffin, an associate professor and associate director of the center, joined Creighton from the Pacific Northwest. The account also describes assistant professor Litao Tao's work to develop gene therapies for deafness.
The 2021 award that launched the center was described by Creighton University at the time as a $10.8 million grant, payable over five years and competitively renewable for up to 15 years. The university has not detailed how the new, nearly $10.9 million renewal amount compares structurally to that original figure.
What the Center's Scientists Are Chasing
The center's researchers are tackling a wide range of questions, including how the inner ear develops, what happens when that development goes wrong, and whether drugs can be developed to prevent hearing loss linked to aging, noise or medications, the archived report states. Steyger's own work includes developing methods for delivering therapeutics directly to the inner ear, according to his Creighton faculty profile.
Researchers are also developing genetic therapies intended to prevent or restore hearing loss, and studying how temporary childhood hearing loss — including hearing loss caused by ear infections — affects brain development, the same report notes. Those questions carry real stakes: hearing research is described as critical to people's ability to hold conversations and participate in their communities, while people with hearing difficulties can face greater difficulty learning to listen and express their needs, with hearing loss affecting quality of life and relationships more broadly.
What the Federal Figure Measures
An NIDCD FY 2020 budget document said at least 46 million people in the United States have a hearing or other communication disorder. That figure covers a broader category than hearing difficulty alone, so it does not establish how common hearing difficulty is among U.S. adults.
The center's work fits into a broader scientific push nationally. Research supported by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders has helped identify more than 150 genes that can cause hearing loss when mutated or missing, according to the NIDCD.
Other Creighton Hearing Grants
The Bellucci center isn't the only source of NIH hearing funding at Creighton. Researcher Marisa Zallocchi previously received a five-year, $2.9 million NIH R01 grant to study aminoglycoside-related hearing loss, according to Creighton University's announcement. Her team includes a Creighton undergraduate and a senior postdoctoral researcher, and collaborates with Creighton's Department of Pharmacy and a chemist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the university said.
Looking ahead, the center's stated aim is to speed the translation of laboratory research into clinical trials and, eventually, clinical practice, according to Creighton's earlier announcement about the original grant. With its research cores and growing roster of labs, the center is positioned to keep training the next generation of hearing researchers in Omaha for years to come.
