Arminda Suli, Ph.D.
The Research
University of Washington
Assessing functional recovery after mechanosensory hair cell regeneration in the zebrafish lateral line
Sensory hair cells located in the inner ear are responsible for converting sound into understandable signals for the brain. Damage of these cells from age-related factors, noise, and therapeutic drugs leads to hair cells loss, a process that is irreversible in humans and other mammals. In contrast, non-mammalians, such as zebrafish, are very effective in regenerating sensory hair cells; therefore, we use this organism to find mechanisms that lead to sensory hair cell regeneration. Since restoration of function depends on restoring the correct connections between hair cells and the brain, I am using a behavioral assay and molecular markers to determine how this process is accomplished during regeneration.