Tag: hair cells

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Researchers Find Master Gene Programming Hair Cells

Hearing loss due to aging, noise, and certain cancer therapy drugs and antibiotics has been irreversible because scientists have not been able to reprogram existing cells to develop into the outer and inner ear sensory cells — essential for hearing — once they die. But Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered a single master gene that programs ear hair cells into either outer or inner ones, overcoming a major hurdle that had prevented the development of these cells to restore hearing, according to new research published in “Nature.”

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Researchers Create Inner Ear Sound Frequency Map

Researchers at Uppsala University have created the “first 3D map of the hearing nerve showing where the various sound frequencies are captured,” according to an article on the university's website. Using what is known as synchrotron X-ray imaging, they were able to trace the fine nerve threads and the vibrating auditory organ, the cochlea, and find out exactly how the frequencies of incoming sound are distributed.

USC Researchers Produce Sensory Hearing Cells

To achieve reprogramming, the scientists exposed fibroblasts and supporting cells to a cocktail of four transcription factors, which are molecules that help convey the instructions encoded in DNA. The scientists identified this cocktail by testing various combinations of 16 transcription factors that were highly active in the hair cells of newborn mice.

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