Home Department: Undeclared
Mentor: Alan Cheng (Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery)

“Molecular Architecture of Bundles in Surviving and Regenerating Hair Cells in the Adult Mouse Utricle after Damage”

This project aims to characterize the molecular constituents of hair bundles on surviving and regenerating hair cells in the mouse inner ear utricle. Nathan will assess transgenic mice overexpressing the hair cell reprogramming proteins (Atoh1, Gfi1 and Pou4f3) following cell damage. He will perform drug injections in mice, microdissections of utricles, immunostaining and imaging of tissues at different timepoints and genetically characterize both surviving and regenerating hair cell colonies. He will analyze images using Imaris, Fiji and Prism software to create a cohesive report of the study’s findings. Results will help us to understand the local, temporal and molecular differences between surviving and regenerating inner ear hair cells following injury.