​Prof. Karen Avraham and her team at Tel Aviv University, along with colleagues from the Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard, have discovered how to avert deafness in mice born with a rare genetic mutation. Using a harmless synthetic virus, in work done primarily by MD-PhD student Shahar Taiber, they replaced the defective gene with a healthy gene immediately after birth, thereby preventing damage. Avraham's work shows potential for curing people as well, specifically Iraqi Jews, among whom the mutation is also found. The breakthrough was written up in numerous publications, among them The Jerusalem Post and The Times of Israel.  

As part of the first cycle of Israel Precision Medicine Partnership grants, Prof. Avraham was awarded NIS 5 million in 2019. Her research was published last month in the medical journal EMBO Molecular Medicine. The full study is available for download below.