RESEARCH
It is also one of the first genes to be upregulated during regeneration in non-mammalian vertebrates. The project is investigating novel mechanisms of Atoh1 gene regulation that involve epigenetic modifications (not due to changes in DNA sequence). The study will analyze the mechanistic links between the discovered epigenetic state of the Atoh1 gene and the Atoh1 gene expression. Long-term goal: to better understand how the Atoh1 gene is regulated in order to reverse the failure of hearing regeneration in the mammalian organ of Corti.
HEARING HEALTH FOUNDATION C.H.E.A.R. ENDOWMENT GRANT RECIPIENT Rebecca Seal, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh First-Year Grant Recipient Seal received her Ph.D. in neuroscience at Oregon Health & Sciences University and completed her postdoctoral training in sensory circuits at the University of California, San Francisco. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Pittsburgh. Research area: fundamental auditory research Role of outer hair cell glutamate release in cochlear function and dysfunction: Outer hair cells are vital for normal hearing. Although the cells are known to amplify the cochlear response to sound using an electromotile mechanism, they also signal to type II spiral ganglion neurons through the regulated release of glutamate. However, the function of this signaling remains unknown. Similar to inner hair cells, glutamate signaling by outer hair cells may influence sound transmission as well as the maintenance of spiral ganglion afferents. In the adult, cholinergic efferents play a critical role in maintaining outer hair cell viability and the innervation pattern of these fibers may also be influenced by the released glutamate. Thus, there are several potential mechanisms by which loss of glutamate signaling by outer hair cells could cause hearing loss. Long-term goal: to provide new information about the role of hair cell signaling in hearing and in disorders of the auditory system including hearing loss in order to help treat hearing loss caused by abnormal cochlear function. The C.H.E.A.R. endowment was created to support an annual Sensorineural Deafness Research Grant. C.H.E.A.R. (Children Hearing Education and Research) was absorbed into Hearing Health Foundation in 1991, and Hearing Health Foundation is very proud to continue its legacy of funding research in sensorineural deafness.
LITERATURE REVIEW ON HYPERACUSIS Richard S. Tyler, Ph.D., University of Iowa Tyler was trained both as a clinical audiologist and as a psychoacoustician. He has served on the National Academies Institute of Medicine Committee on “Noise and Military Service: Implications for Hearing Loss and Tinnitus”; the World Health Organization Panel on “The Burden of Disease from Environmental Noise and Tinnitus”; and the Veterans’ Affairs Committee on “The Revision of the Veterans Administration Schedule for Rating Disabilities (Hearing Loss and Tinnitus).” He is a professor in the Department of Otolaryngology and in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Iowa. Research areas: cochlear implants, tinnitus Literature review on hyperacusis, recruitment, misophonia, phonophobia, and mechanisms: We will complete a thorough review of the literature, documenting causes, mechanisms, measurement, and treatments. The review is intended to provide a comprehensive document that clinicians and researchers will be able to use to understand hyperacusis and to improve current and suggest future treatments. Long-term goal: to provide a systematic, comprehensive review of the entire field of hyperacusis in order to direct research to find cures.
STRIAL ATROPY/DEVELOPMENT PROJECT Andy Groves, Ph.D., Baylor College of Medicine Groves received his Ph.D. at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at University College London in the U.K., where he studied the early development of the nervous system. He did his postdoctoral training at the California Institute of Technology, where his research focus became the development and regeneration of the inner ear. Groves is an associate professor in the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics as well as in the Department of Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas. Research areas: the development and regeneration of the inner ear, stria vascularis development Development of biomarkers to study strial development and degeneration: The sensory hair cells of the cochlea are able to detect sound vibrations. Hair cells need a source of
Call for Applications: Hearing Health Foundation requests applications from new research applicants and current Hearing Health Foundation research grant awardees applying for a second year of funding, who are dedicated to exploring new avenues of hearing and balance science. To learn more about Hearing Health Foundation’s Emerging Research Grants program and submit a letter of intent, visit www.hearinghealthfoundation.org/emerging-research-grants. 40 | HEARING HEALTH | A PUBLICATION OF HEARING HEALTH FOUNDATION