MEDIA CONTACT: Wendy Leopold at 847-491-4890 or w-leopold@northwestern.edu

April 5, 2005

Dallos Receives Knowles Prize

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Peter Dallos, John Evans Professor of Neuroscience at Northwestern University, has been named winner of the 2005 Hugh Knowles Prize for his contributions to the understanding of the workings of the inner ear. The prize is awarded by Northwestern’s Hugh Knowles Center to a scientist or clinician who has made an outstanding contribution to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of hearing disorders.

Dallos has worked for more than 30 years to understand the biophysics and neurobiology of the mammalian cochlea. Using techniques ranging from animal behavior to molecular biology, his laboratory has focused on delineating the physiological properties and functional roles of inner and outer hair cells, the two types of sensory receptors of the inner ear.

Most recently, Dallos and his colleagues discovered the molecule prestin, which functions as the distinctive molecular motor of outer hair cells. A Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Dallos holds appointments in numerous departments at Northwestern University.

His primary appointments are in the departments of communication sciences and disorders of the School of Communication and neurobiology and physiology in Weinberg College of Arts and Science. He also is professor of biomedical engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science and professor of otolaryngology in the Feinberg School of Medicine.

Dallos is an honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the winner of numerous honors and awards, including the Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award, the prestigious Dutch Guyot Award and Békésy Medal of the Acoustical Society.

The Knowles Center for Clinical and Basic Science in Hearing and Its Disorders was established through a gift from the founder of Knowles Electronics. It aims to foster interdisciplinary research, scholarship, training, and clinical services benefiting individuals with hearing disorders.