Kevin K. Ohlemiller, Ph.D.

Meet the Researcher

Kevin Ohlemiller, Ph.D. received his Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Indiana University, then his PhD in neuroscience from Northwestern University under the mentorship of Dr. Jonathan Siegel. After performing post-doctoral work with Dr. Nobuo Suga at Washington University in Saint Louis, he joined the faculty at the Central Institute for the Deaf, now merged with the Department of Otolaryngology at Washington University School of Medicine.

The Research

Washington University
Cellular and Genetic Bases of Age-Associated Strial Degeneration and EP decline in NOD congenic mice

The electric currents that run through cochlear sensory cells are largely driven by a specialized cochlear structure called the stria vascularis. The work of the stria requires a lot of energy, so that it is densely vascularized (hence the name). Loss of strial blood vessels is thought to be a common cause of age-related hearing loss. Not everyone shows signs of this kind of pathology, however, so that there must be forms of certain genes carried by some people that act as ‘risk’ genes. People who carry ‘risk’ genes may be more likely to experience loss of strial blood vessels, and ultimately loss of the stria itself. In 2008 we discovered that a particular breed of mice (NOD mice) start out with a normal stria, but then show loss of strial vessels, followed by loss of the stria beginning from both ends of the cochlea and progressing toward the middle. These changes were accompanied by other distinctive anatomic features that may tell us something about the process, or may be unrelated. By crossing these mice with another strain that does not show pathology, we will be able to determine what pathologic features are inherited together (thus caused by the same genes), how many genes are involved, and their approximate locations. Any gene(s) we find may have human counterparts that exert similar effects.

Research areas: auditory physiology/pathophysiology, cell biology of hearing and deafness

Long-term goal of research: Finding ‘risk’ genes may not point directly to cures or allow us to predict who will lose their hearing. Nevertheless, identifying the genes, gene networks, and gene products will help pinpoint key reactions that can be tweaked pharmacologically. We are among the first to seek out mouse strains with pathology of the stria vascularis and to use these to uncover genes that promote strial degeneration in mice, and possibly in humans.