The division into themes of the Department’s research areas requires a wide range of competences and skills. The Department holds considerable experience with the planning and design of both clinical, translational and experimental studies.

Clinical and translational research

Several members of the research teams master the handling of REDCap data, and the Department is authorised to extract data from Researcher Service (Danish: Forskerservice), Statistics Denmark) for use in register-based research.

The Department also holds expertise in the development and validation of questionnaires. Furthermore, the Department is well versed in processing and analysing complex imaging data.

The Department performs all clinical tests in the field of flavour research: quantitative ortho and retro-nasal testing of olfaction, quantitative testing of the sense of taste, olfactometry and electrogustometry and evaluation of 3T MR of the olfactory bulp imaging and data on neural networks/cerebral plasticity.

The Department also has the capacity to evaluate sleep monitoring including PSG and biomarkers related to sleep and OSAS.

All psycho-acoustic tests are performed as is evaluation of the function of the eustachian tube. The Department has at its disposal all test modalities relating to the vestibular field, including posturography.

Experimental research

Louise Devantier has developed a special chair for vestibular stimulation for use in both PET and fMRI studies.

The Department's professor holds many years of experience with animal models (mice, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits) and in-vitro studies of various different cell types, including olfactory stem cells.

Furthermore, the Department holds expertise in the execution and performance of various immuno-histochemical techniques, proteinic chemistry and qPCR.

In the table you will find a list of publications that the research staff have contributed to in the 2015-2020-period. 

The publication list of the Ear, Nose and Throat Department (pdf).

The Department's research mission is to further develop both medico-clinical and nursing research activities.

Fundamentally, free research initiative prevails but with a special focus on frequent and common ear, nose and throat conditions, treatments and procedures.

The research strategy of the Ear, Nose and Throat Department (pdf).

Platform

We intend to establish a robust research platform with activities that span broadly and go in depth to ensure coherence and continuity in the research activities over time. The research activities are rooted in:

1. A scientific staff (a clinical nursing specialist, professor secretary, bio-analyst, talent/research year student, PhD student, post docs and a clinical professor).
2. The Department’s medical specialists, doctors in training and nurses. This organization is intended to ensure clinically rooted research and implementation of research results in daily clinical work - and to avoid that research activities become a separate and isolated function with no link to or continuity with respect to the other functions of the Department.

Research strategy meetings counting the participation of the clinical professor are held regularly. The objective of these meetings is to coordinate clinical activity and research and ensure the implementation of new initiatives.

Dissemination

With respect to dissemination of the research activities, the aim is annually to publish a total of 10-15 articles and hold approx. 10 presentations, i.e. oral presentations or posters at national or international conferences/symposia.

In cooperation with the professor secretary, the clinical professor prepares two annual newsletters/one overall annual report to inform and take stock of the Department’s research activities. These are published at the Department’s website and at the Hospital’s and NIDO’s websites.

Core facilities

A number of core facilities are established relating to databases, literature searching, statistical data work-up and legal issues relating to research.

Collaborative efforts

Cooperation with other specialties, Aarhus University, international partners, the practice sector and industry is an essential factor in the Department's research activities. The management of the Department and the clinical professor head the dissemination of the activities.

Competence development

To ensure competence development in the context of the scientific work, a monthly journal club is held for all employees as are two annual research training workshops/boot camps.

In line with the specialty's traditional structure and with the intention of exploring frequently occurring/common conditions and procedures, the Department's research falls within the following themes:

• Balance (otology and vestibulogy)
• Flavour (rhinology)
• Sleep (head-throat)
• Hearing/tinnitus (audiology).

To ensure a more or less equitable distribution of activities on each theme, the aim is to establish one post doc period or one PhD within each theme in addition implementing a range of more limited projects. 

Balance (otology and vestibulogy)

2020 will see the initiation of a PhD project entitled "Dysfunctional eustachian tubes: causes, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis" by Doctor Niels Holm.

This PhD project will be based on cooperation particularly with the Ear, Nose and Throat Department in Aalborg and a wide range of ENT doctors in the Central Denmark and North Denmark regions.

In the longer term, these efforts will cover all of Denmark as all Danish patients who undergo balloon dilatation of the eustachian tube are registered in a joint database. Even at this early point, the national cooperation was consolidated in a published status article counting one author from each of the Danish regions.

Louise Devantier continues her vestibulogy studies as a post doc. The focus of her work is visualisation of cerebral networks through vestibular stimulation in collaboration with several international researchers.

Flavour (rhinology)

Alexander Fjælstad is a post doc in the flavour field. His study focuses on the sense of taste from tongue to brain and includes, among others, cancer patients. Additionally, Alexander is engaged in a considerable number of collaborative projects with a wide range of reputable international researchers. An altogether unique feature of the Flavour Clinic is its link to the Flavour Institute.

Andreas Niklasson's PhD project "Olfactory training and brain plasticity" aims to elucidate the scope of and the physiological mechanisms underlying the effect of olfactory training. The population basis for the study is patients with post-inflammatory and post-traumatic hyposmia/anosmia.

Talent and research year student Jelena Stankovic explores food fussiness and neophobia (fear of new foods). Her project compares a group of healthy children/adolescents in the town of Ringkøbing with a group of ADHD patients from the Child and Adolescent Outpatient Clinic in Skejby and counts Professor Per Hove Thomsen as a co-supervisor.

Sleep (head-throat)

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is common in Denmark - among children and adults alike. This topic is therefore the focus of Tina Lildals PhD study, in which children suspected of OSA are sleep-monitored before and after tonsillectomy.

The work is performed in cooperation with Professor An Boudewyns from the Antwerp University Hospital.

Hearing/tinnitus (audiology)

With a view to establishing a PhD project in the field of audiology, a REDCap database is being established focusing on the paediatric area.

Annual Report 2020 (pdf)

Annual Report 2021 (pdf)