Andy K. Groves, Ph.D.
Meet the Researcher
Andy Groves, Ph.D. was born in London and studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge. He did his Ph.D. training at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at University College London, where he studied the early development of the nervous system. He moved to California for postdoctoral training at the California Institute of Technology, and it was there that he changed his research focus to study the development and regeneration of the inner ear. Dr. Groves was recruited to Baylor College of Medicine in the summer of 2008.
The Research
Baylor College of Medicine
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 potassium that helps them to convert sound energy into electrical energy that is sent to the brain. Hair cells in our cochlea are bathed in a potassium-rich fluid called endolymph, and the potassium is constantly pumped into the endolymph by a specialized group of cells in the cochlea called the stria vascularis. As humans get older, the stria vascularis can degenerate, and so the “battery” that supplies potassium to the cochlea runs down, and we lose our hearing. The goal of this project is to understand how the stria vascularis develops, and to devise ways of looking at changes in this structure with age.
Research areas: the development and regeneration of the inner ear, stria vascularis development
Long-term goal of research: We hope this knowledge may allow us to repair or slow down damage to the cochlea and lessen the effects of age-dependent hearing loss.