Bächinger, David
Peyton, Brock
Neubauer, Jacqueline
Dharmarajan, Anbuselvan
Zhu, MengYu
O’Malley, Jennifer T.
Kallupurackal, Venus
Senese, Steven
Brown, Alison
Wunderlin, Sabina
Kreutzer, Susanne
Weiss, Nora M.
Richter, Heiko
Dalbert, Adrian
Röösli, Christof
Kipar, Anja
Varga, Zsuzsanna
von Rechenberg, Brigitte
Amr, Sami S.
Eckhard, Andreas H. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4921-6043
Article History
Received: 18 July 2025
Accepted: 27 January 2026
First Online: 23 February 2026
Declarations
:
: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Boards of Massachusetts Eye and Ear (Boston, USA; #2021P001593), University Hospital Zurich (Zurich, Switzerland; #BASEC–2021-00820), and University Hospital Rostock (Rostock, Germany; #A–2020-0264). Written informed consent was obtained from all tissue donors or their legal representatives.
: The authors declare no competing interests.
: A large language model (ChatGPT, current versions, currently v1.2025.32, OpenAI) was used during the drafting phase to assist in proofreading and revising author-written text. No AI tools were used to generate data, analyze data, produce figures, or create artwork. All content was subsequently written, revised, and verified by the authors. The authors take full responsibility for the integrity, accuracy, and originality of all manuscript content.