research

Research Overview

My research focuses on the mechanisms that underlie hearing loss. I have a broad background in cell biology and specialized expertise in mitochondrial biology and auditory neuroscience. Our research seeks to understand how mitochondria support the ability of hair cells to detect and transmit sound. In particular, we study how mitochondrial dysfunction at ribbon synapses, the specialized junctions that relay sound information from sensory hair cells to auditory neurons, disrupts hearing under diverse stress conditions. In addition to studying fundamental mechanisms of auditory biology, we are strongly committed to translational research. A major focus of our work is developing new therapeutic strategies to prevent cisplatin-induced hearing loss, a common and often permanent side effect of chemotherapy that affects many cancer patients and can significantly reduce quality of life.

3D confocal movie of mitochondria in cochlear hair cells

The movie shows a three-dimensional reconstruction of cochlear hair cells and their mitochondria. Confocal microscopy images of cochlear whole mount preparations from a MitoTag mouse, a transgenic line that expresses enhanced green fluorescent protein targeted to the outer mitochondrial membrane. Hair cells are labeled with MYO7A (magenta), mitochondria are visualized using MitoTag (GFP, green), and nuclei are counterstained with DAPI (blue). Scale bars represent 100 µm, as indicated. Created by Dr. Shun Wakamori.