Dr. José A. López Escámez

Speaker

Neurocientífico. Profesor de Enfermedad de Meniere y Neurociencia. Kolling Institute. Universidad de Sydney. Australia.

Biografía

I am an international leader in genetics and immunology of Meniere’s disease (MD), hearing loss and tinnitus, ranked in the Stanford World Top 2% Scientists in 2021-23. I have 202 publications in scientific journals indexed in PubMed with >10600 citations in GS. I have been granted > 7M in competitive funding in Europe and currently leading the Meniere’s disease Neuroscience Research Program at the University of Sydney. My research during the last 10 years has re-defined the condition (2015 MD diagnostic criteria), identified five clinical variants, including autoimmune and familial MD, discovered the main genes involved in familial MD in European descendant population (OTOG, MYO7A, TECTA, GJD3), and re-classifed MD clinical variants, according to cytokine profile and multiomic data, leading to a better understanding of the genetic contribution and inflammatory process in MD. Besides, his collaborative work in several European (TINNET, ESIT, TIGER, UNITI) and Australian Consortia (Australian tinnitus Consortia) has also lead to seminal contributions in the tinnitus heritability and the discovery of several genes in patients with severe tinnitus (ANK2, TSC2). I also have supervised 15 PhD and 27 Master students at the University of Granada in Spain and 3 Honours students at the University of Sydney. My mentees are enrolled as postdoctoral researchers in top ranked Universities including University of Edinburgh, University of Cambridge, University College London, Harvard University and Karolinska Institute. I have successfully administered >50 productive Grants and fellowships, including several RCT (e.g., hiring staff, research ethics, IPR, budget), collaborating with other researchers in several Consortia.

Current Academic positions
2023- Professor of Meniere disease and Neuroscience, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Australia.
2015- Head Otology & Neurotology Group MP12, Health Research Institute of Granada, ibs.GRANADA, Granada, Spain https://www.ibsgranada.es/en/grupos-de-investigacion/mp12-otologia-y-otoneurologia
2023- Visiting Scholar, Department of Surgery, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Granada, Spain.

Former Academic and professional positions
2019-23 Assoc. Prof. Otorhinolaryngology, Dept. of Surgery, Div. Otolaryngology, Univ. of Granada, Spain.
2018-20 Scientific Director, Health Research Institute of Granada (IBS-Granada), Granada, Spain.
2017-18 Visiting Researcher, Luxembourg Center System Biomedicine, Univ. du Luxembourg. Luxembourg.
2015-23 Consultant in Otolaryngology, Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves, Granada, Spain
2012-23 CI, Dept. Genomic Medicine, Centre for Genomics and Oncology (GENyO), Granada, Spain
2011-12 Assoc Res., Dept. Genomic Medicine, Ctr. for Genomics and Oncology (GENyO), Granada, Spain
2008-09 Research Director, Hospital de Poniente, El Ejido, Almería, Spain
2002-15 Head of Otology & Neurotology Group CTS495, Hospital de Poniente, El Ejido, Almeria, Spain
1999-15 Consultant in Otolaryngology, Hospital de Poniente, El Ejido, Almeria, Spain
1999-99 Consultant in Otolaryngology, Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves, Granada, Spain
1995-98 Residency in Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery. Hospital Virgen de las Nieves. Granada.
1993 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Kresge Hearing Research Institute, University of Michigan, US
1992 Research Scholar Exchange Visitor, Kresge Hearing Research Institute, University of Michigan, US
1991 Honorary Research Fellow, Dept. of Physiology, St. Thomas' Hospitals, University of London, UK.
1986-90 Medical Internship, Dept. Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, Granada, Spain

Ongoing Research Support
2024 NHMRC Ideas Grant. Flinders University, Bionic Institute of Australia, University of Sydney, Soterix Medical, University of South Australia
2025-2029 Novel Tinnitus Management Combining Brain Stimulation and Hearing Aids with Genetic and Epigenetic Biomarkers. CIA Raj Shekhawat CIB Mehrnaz Shoushtarian CIC Jose Antonio Lopez Escamez CID Abhishel Datta CIE Adrian Esterman CIF Malcom Battersby CIG Kenneth Pope. AU$ 2,237,869.40
2024 American Tinnitus Association Innovative Grant Research Program. University of Sydney.
2024-2026 Genetics and epigenetics of severe tinnitus.. CI Jose Antonio Lopez-Escamez. US$ 120.000. This project will study the rare genetic variation and DNA methylation in patients with severe tinnitus.
2023 Phylantropic Fund Meniere disease Neuroscience Program. University of Sydney. B3413
2023-27. CI Jose Antonio Lopez-Escamez AUD 3,000,000. Deciphering the genetics and inflammatory bases of Meniere’s Disease and Tinnitus Disorder by combining multi-omic data, cellular and animal models.

Honors & Awards
2024 Hallpike-Nylen Medal. Barany Society. Uppsala
2024 American Tinnitus Association Scientific Advisory Committee.
2023 Kolling Discovery Science Research Award Best publication by a researcher at any career stage.
2021-23 Chair, Education Committee and Member of the Executive Board of the Spanish Society Otorhinolaryngology (SEORL)
2018 Frontiers Spotlight Award 2018. Research Topic: Vestibular contribution to health and disease
2018 Global Otology Research Forum- Vestibular Research Prize. Politzer Society meeting 2018. Genetic Diagnosis of Autoimmune Meniere’s Disease.
2018 Joan Gasso Best publication Award: Extended phenotype and clinical subgroups in unilateral Meniere disease. Clinical Otolayngology. 2017;1-9. DOI:10,1111/coa.12844. 2018.
2016-20 Member, Program Committee, Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO).
2016 Member, Collegium Oto-Rhino-Laryngologicum Amicitae Sacrum (CORLAS).
2015-21 Chair, Research Committee of the Spanish Society Otorhinolaryngology (SEORL)
2011-15 Chair of Meniere’s Disease subcommittee of Barany Society, Member of International Classification for Vestibular Disorders.
2011 3th award Ulyssess to best Medical Staff paper Best Spanish Research to “Immunogenetic profile and endophenotypes in Meniere disease. CTO Foundation. 2011.
2010 Award Fundacion Juan Gasso to best Oral Presentation SEORL Congress.
2009 Awarded Bronze medal of the SEORL. Meniere disease: from basic science to clinical medicine.
2009 First Prize Solvay Pharma to best publication in Otoneurology.
1998 Outstanding PhD Award, University of Granada, Spain.

Top 5 publications 2021-2025
202 publications in WoS with 10626 citations, H index- 55 (GS)/ 5323 citations, H index-41 (WoS)
1. Escalera-Balsera A, Robles-Bolivar P, Parra-Perez AM, Murillo-Cuesta S, Chua HC, Rodríguez-de la Rosa L, Contreras J, Domarecka E, Amor-Dorado JC, Soto-Varela A, Varela-Nieto I, Szczepek AJ, Gallego-Martinez A, Lopez-Escamez JA. A rare haplotype of the GJD3 gene segregating in familial Meniere's disease interferes with connexin assembly. Genome Med. 2025 Jan 15;17(1):4. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13073-024-01425-1 IF(JCR)- Quartile (JCR) 10.4-Q1 8/190 (GENETICS AND HEREDITY).
2. Frejo L, Cara FE, Flook M, Robles-Bolivar P, Escalera-Balsera A, Montilla-Ibañez MA, Dominguez-Duran E, Martinez-Martinez M, Perez-Carpena P, Lopez-Escamez JA. Allergy and autoinflammation drive persistent systemic inflammatory response in Meniere Disease: A longitudinal study. Clin Immunol. 2025 Feb;271:110413. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clim.2024.110413 IF(JCR)- Quartile (JCR) 4.5-Q2 62/181 (IMMUNOLOGY)
3. Flook M, Escalera-Balsera A, Rybakowska P, Frejo L, Batuecas-Caletrio A, Amor-Dorado JC, Soto-Varela A, Alarcón-Riquelme M, Lopez-Escamez JA. Single-cell immune profiling of Meniere Disease patients. Clin Immunol. 2023 Jul;252:109632. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clim.2023.109632 IF(JCR)- Quartile (JCR) 8.6-Q1 27/161 (IMMUNOLOGY)
4. Roman-Naranjo P, Parra-Perez AM, Escalera-Balsera A, Soto-Varela A, Gallego-Martinez A, Aran I, Perez-Fernandez N, Bächinger D, Eckhard AH, Gonzalez-Aguado R, Frejo L, Lopez-Escamez JA. Defective α-tectorin may involve tectorial membrane in familial Meniere disease. Clin Transl Med 2022; 12(6):e829. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ctm2.829 IF(JCR)- Quartile (JCR) 8.554-D1 10/140 (MEDICINE RES & EXP)
5. Amanat S, Gallego-Martinez A, Sollini J, Perez-Carpena P, Espinosa-Sanchez JM, Aran I, Soto-Varela A, Batuecas-Caletrio A, Canlon B, May P, Cederroth CR, Lopez-Escamez JA. Burden of rare variants in synaptic genes in patients with severe tinnitus: An exome based extreme phenotype study. EBioMedicine 2021 Apr;66:103309. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2021.103309 IF(JCR)- Quartile (JCR) 11.205-D1 13/138 (MEDICINE RES & EXP)