Elizabeth Lamont

Fulbright Postgraduate Scholar

Media Profile

Elizabeth LaMont is one of twenty Americans to be granted a Fulbright U.S. Postgraduate Award to study in Australia in 2005. An Arts & Sciences Graduate from Washington University in St. Louis, specialising in Biology, Elizabeth is working in the laboratory of Dr. Alan Brichta at the University of Newcastle where she will investigate the possible causes of Ménière’s disease.

Dr. Brichta and his colleagues, with whom Elizabeth will be researching, have created one of the very few vestibular (balance) research centres in the world that record from the neurons carrying information regarding balance from the inner ear to the brain. As Ménière’s disease is thought to originate in the inner ear, the manifestations of this disease can include partial or complete hearing loss and an inability of sufferers to perform simple tasks that involve balance and movement.

The vestibular system controls our sense of equilibrium. This sensory system is considered to have a critical influence on other important sensory systems and on our ability to function in everyday life. Directly or indirectly, the vestibular system influences nearly everything we do.

Elizabeth, together with Dr. Brichta, will test the hypothesis that changes in the volume of inner ear fluid (endolymph) stimulate the vestibular apparatus and thus may be responsible for the symptoms seen in Ménière’s disease such as vertigo, dizziness, and tonal hearing loss. According to existing theories regarding the cause of Ménière’s disease, ingredients of endolymph are thought to undergo pathological changes. By altering endolymph volume and concentrations they hope to determine the mechanisms that underlie the debilitating symptoms of Ménière’s disease.

Finding the cause or causes of Ménière’s disease will assist researchers in developing preventative measures, new treatments, and possibly even a cure, which is the ultimate goal of Ménière’s disease research.