During development organs are formed from the integration of different tissues to produce a final complex structure. This is particularly true of the ear, where different tissues come together to create the external, middle and inner ear compartments. Signalling is essential to link up the parts of the ear into a chain for the transfer of sound. Defects in this process lead to conductive hearing loss, where sound fails to reach the inner ear (1 in 10,000 births).
Knowledge of the processes involved during ear development is important not only for understanding the underlying causes of congenital hearing loss, but also to provide the principles to recreate structures later in life. It can, therefore, inform our understanding of how to enhance repair of the ear.
This proposal aims to first address how the ear is integrated during development to create a functional organ, focusing on the intersection between the middle and external ear and the formation of the ear drum. The ear drum is unique in the body in that it is created from all three germ layers: ectoderm (& neural crest), mesoderm, and endoderm. An understanding of how these layers come together and interact in the embryo will then be used to assess how these different layers respond to injury and take part in repair of the adult ear drum.
Aim 1: To understand the signals that integrate the different parts of the ear during development
Aim 2: To use developmental knowledge to follow and enhance repair of the ear
Skills training: molecular biology techniques, mouse developmental biology, culturing, surgery, confocal imaging, stem cell biology, critical thinking, presentation and writing skills.
Year 1: Ear drum development in the mouse
Year 2: Injury and repair models
Year 3: Integration of development and repair mechanisms