Fate Therapeutics is investigating therapeutic intervention strategies to regenerate cells within the inner ear that are responsible for hearing.  Hearing restoration is an area of significant importance to military personnel, as hearing loss is the most common military service related disability.  In pursuit of this shared interest, the U.S. Army awarded Fate a $2.5 million grant in April 2011, to identify and develop small molecule drugs for restoring acute hearing loss.  Under this program, Fate is leveraging its expertise in cell modulation to identify molecules with the potential to alter inner ear cells in ways that may restore hearing, and is testing these compounds in in vivo models of acute hearing loss to evaluate their effectiveness.  The continued development of regenerative therapeutic candidates coming out of this two year project with the U.S. Army may be of benefit to military personnel and civilians alike who are afflicted with acute hearing loss.