Research at
Gallaudet University
2005 - 2006
Function of Class III Myosins at the Tips of Stereocilia and Their Interacting Partners
| Status: Ongoing | Begin date: April 1, 2006 | End date: December 1, 2008 |
Description
Hair cells of mammalian cochlea have specialized hair structures called stereocilia. Several hearing disorders have been linked to essential proteins in the stereocilia. These proteins are important for sound transduction–an electromechanical sound transmission and feedback between the cochlea and brain. The researchers are focusing on unconventional, non-muscle motor proteins called class III myosins that are recently found to be present in the stereocilia tips. Mutations in these proteins are related to a form of autosomal recessive deafness ( DFNB30; Walsh et al., 2002). This observation is related to a Jewish family that is affected by a genetic type of progressive hearing loss. Researchers are using molecular biology, biochemical, and microscopy techniques to study these proteins at the stereocilia tips.
Investigators
- Merritt, Raymond, Biology
- Kachar, Bechara, Section on Cell Structure,
National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders (NIH/NIDCD) (Bethesda, MD) - Schneider, Mark, Section on Cell Structure,
National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders (NIH/NIDCD) (Bethesda, MD) - De Sousa, Aurea, Section on Cell Structure,
National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders (NIH/NIDCD) (Bethesda, MD) - Salles, Felipe, Section on Cell Structure,
National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders (NIH/NIDCD) (Bethesda, MD) - Does, Andrea,
University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA) - Erickson, Les,
Salisbury University (Salisbury, MD)