Megan Beers Wood, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Research topic: Type II auditory nerve fibers as instigators of the cochlear immune response after acoustic trauma
Long-term goal: To understand the role of CGRP-alpha in the neurons and immune response of the inner ear, which may illustrate a role for type II neurons in pain and inflammation following tissue damage. CGRP-alpha has been a target for therapeutics for painful conditions such as migraine, making it an attractive therapeutic target for pathologies of the inner ear.
Published Research
Virally mediated enhancement of efferent inhibition reduces acoustic trauma in wild-type murine cochleas, Molecular Therapy: Methods & Clinical Development, 2025.
Damage-evoked signals in cochlear neurons and supporting cells, Frontiers in Neurology, 2024.
Engineering Olivocochlear Inhibition to Reduce Acoustic Trauma, Molecular Therapy. Methods & Clinical Development, 2023.