Gene therapy for hearing loss has transitioned from a theoretical concept into a transformative clinical reality, albeit limited to specific cases of genetic hearing loss—for now.
Zebrafish Study Reveals a Genetic Switch Controlling Ear and Balance Cells
Hearing Restoration Project member and Emerging Research Grants scientist Tatjana Piotrowski, Ph.D., and team show that the transcription factor prdm1a plays a key role in determining hair cell fate in the zebrafish lateral line.
Elusive Cell Type in Fish Sensory Organs Discovered
Researchers from the Piotrowski Lab describe their discovery of the occasional occurrence of a pair of cells within post-embryonic and adult neuromasts that are not labeled by lateral line markers. When using a technique called Zebrabow, these cells are labeled a different color than the rest of the neuromast.
How Beautiful Hearing Loss Research Can Be
Hearing Health Foundation (HHF)’s scientists study sensory cells in various species to better understand how they are damaged and how they can be regenerated to restore human hearing. Here are five of the most breathtaking images from our scientists’ labs showcasing the beauty of the hearing and balance functions.
HHF Connects with Researchers at the World’s Largest Conference on Hearing & Balance Science
Nearly 1,800 hearing and balance researchers and related experts gathered Jan. 25–29, 2020, in San Jose, CA for the 43rd annual Midwinter Meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO), the largest academic association in the field. This included a number of Hearing Health Foundation (HHF)-affiliated researchers, members of the HHF Board of Directors and scientific advisory bodies, and HHF staff.
Filling in the Gaps
The annual meeting of Hearing Health Foundation’s (HHF) Hearing Restoration Project (HRP) was held in Seattle Dec. 12–14, 2019. As always, we use this extended in-person meeting to discuss in detail the progress of the consortium over the past year and to develop our plan for the upcoming year.
Looking to Other Sensory Organs to Better Understand Hair Cell Regeneration
In a Sept. 25, 2019, article published in the Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology, Hearing Restoration Project (HRP) consortium member Tatjana Piotrowski, Ph.D., and colleagues at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Missouri summarize the existing literature on hair cell regeneration in the context of sensory cell regeneration more broadly.
The Latest Research on Hair Cell Regeneration to Restore Hearing
The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) hosted “Hearing Restoration and Hair Cell Regeneration” to connect internationally recognized hearing loss experts from academia, industry, government, and nonprofit organizations. Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) scientists spoke and presented.
HHF Scientists to Speak at New York Academy of Sciences Symposium
The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS)’s Hearing Restoration and Hair Cell Regeneration symposium on Tuesday, October 8, will provide members of the HRP and other world-renowned hearing scientists an opportunity to collaborate.
Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Reveals More Clues for Hair Cell Regeneration
To study the genetic program of hair cell regeneration in zebrafish, we sequenced the RNA of individual cells within neuromasts, allowing us to classify cell types based on their gene expression signature.