Project Grant R01DC018537

This five-year, $734,582 Project Grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders will fund research at Lehigh University to investigate the developmental determination of central auditory physiology by the inner ear. The grant is part of the Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders program.

Specifically, the university will develop a model of repatterned frequency representation in the chick inner ear by overexpressing the bone morphogenetic protein 7 gene in embryos. This will alter inner ear development to produce predominantly low-frequency hair cell phenotypes. Researchers will then examine tonotopic refinement in the cochlear nucleus of animals with tonotopically altered inner ears. The goal is to provide new insights into the mechanisms that establish functional organization in the auditory system and inform strategies to preserve normal function and capacity in auditory circuitry for conditions involving early deafness or hearing loss.