Dr Filippo Valente has been awarded an Innovation Fellowship 2024.
The state government Future Health Research and Innovation (FHRI) Innovation Fellowships program seeks to build capability in health and medical-related innovation in Western Australia.
The program is designed to encourage talented Western Australians to enhance their innovative knowledge, skills and experience, in conjunction with nominated experts who perform a mentor role.
Dr Filippo Valente has been awarded $143,316 for the preparation of the manufacturing and clinical trials of ClearDrum.
ClearDrum is a world-first prosthetic eardrum using silkworms and is an implantable device developed by Ear Science Institute Australia and invented by Professor Marcus Atlas. Each year there are millions of eardrum (tympanic membrane) perforations worldwide. They can be the result of trauma, barotrauma, drugs, infection or genetic causes.
Most small, acute perforations will heal independently, but larger, more complex or chronic perforations require surgical intervention (tympanoplasty). Tympanoplasty is the repair of the tympanic membrane using autologous graft material (temporalis fascia, cartilage or perichondrium).
Chronic middle ear disease leading to eardrum perforation is one of the major causes of hearing loss in indigenous populations in Western Australia and across the world. Professor Marcus Atlas commented, “Our innovation will change the way the tympanic membrane is repaired and enhance the treatment and quality of life of patients worldwide”.
Professor Marcus Atlas and Dr Filippo Valente have been the main minds behind the invention, research for which was spun out into a new company, Clear Drum, in 2022/23. Dr Filippo Valente is currently the Chief Technology Officer of the startup company.
Dr Filippo Valente said “The state government support of researchers like me being able to translate their science into clinically in-demand products is a testament to their vision for an innovative WA in biomedical science product development”
The Funding will support world-renowned research at Ear Science Institute Australia, the only medical research institute in Australia dedicated to ear and hearing disorders.
Visit Clear Drum to learn more and for more information on research at Ear Science Institute Australia see here.
