Dr. Mitchell Day
Certain genetic mutations cause cell structures in the ear to break down, leading to deafness. With support from a three-year, $452,998 grant from the National Institutes of Health, three Ohio University researchers aim to learn more about this process at both the genetic and cellular levels.
Dr. Soichi Tanda
Dr. Mitchell Day, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, and Dr. Soichi Tanda, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, and join principal investigator Dr. Mark Berryman, Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences at the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, on the grant.
Deep in the inner ear, microscopic hair cells line a spiral tunnel known as the cochlea. “Hair bundles,” which are set quivering by sound waves, protrude from their surface. Their motion sends electrical signals to the brain; this, in highly simplified form, is how we hear the world around us. Genetic defects that cause breakdown of the hair bundles is one way people – and other animals – can lose hearing.
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