Sensorion (FR0012596468 – ALSEN), a biotech company specializing in the treatment of inner ear diseases, announced that Professor Christine Petit, MD, PhD, will be appointed as the Chair of its Scientific Advisory Board.

Petit presently serves concurrently as professor at College de France, chair of genetics and cellular physiology, professor at Institut Pasteur (Paris), and head of the Laboratory of Genetics and Physiology of Hearing of the Pasteur Institute, affiliated to INSERM (UMRS 1120) and Sorbonne University (Paris).

Among her most notable accomplishments are deciphering the genetic basis for human deafness, elucidating key molecular machineries for sound reception and encoding, and uncovering pathogenic processes for a large variety of hearing deficits. Based on these findings, she is now developing curative therapies for deafness. She has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards for her scientific contributions, such as the ARO Lifetime Achievement Award of Merit (USA), the International Brain Prize from the Grete Lundbeck Foundation, The Hughes Knowles Prize (USA), the Louis-Jeantet for Medicine Prize for her outstanding contribution to the understanding of the auditory science (Europe), the L’Oréal-Unesco Award recognizing outstanding Women in Sciences (Europe), and the Grand Prize from the INSERM (France).

She is a member of the French and American Sciences Academies and the American Medical Academy.

“Professor Christine Petit has a profound and multidisciplinary understanding of hearing and has made paradigm-changing discoveries in the field,” said Nawal Ouzren, Chief Executive Officer of Sensorion. “We are humbled and honored to have an established leader and world-renowned scientist of Professor Petit’s caliber joining Sensorion. We are confident that her guidance, expertise, and experience will serve as invaluable assets to our company and to our efforts in providing better treatment options for those suffering from inner ear diseases.”

Petit will lead the French Hearing Institute coupled to an innovative research center in human audiology, which will open early 2019 in Paris. It aims to advance knowledge in auditory neurosciences and to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

Source: Sensorion