Friday, June 3, 2022
Zoom Webinar Event
Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska
Speaker Information
Keynote Address
Karen Steel, PhD, FRS, FMedSci
Professor of Sensory Function, King's College London
"Can hearing loss be reversed?"
Karen P Steel FMedSci, FRS, is Professor of Sensory Function at the Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, King’s College London. My main goal is to understand deafness, using genetics as a tool to understand the underlying molecular pathways, and my current focus is on progressive (age-related) hearing loss. My group works with both mouse and human data, using the mouse for understanding the different pathophysiological mechanisms involved in hearing loss and human genomic data to establish the most common types of deafness in the population. Several of the pathways we have identified in the mouse are good targets for drug development. I was awarded the Brain Prize for my research in 2012 and I have served the research community as an elected member of Council of the Royal Society, elected president of the International Mammalian Genetics Society, and elected president of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, among many other roles.
Professor of Sensory Function, King's College London
"Can hearing loss be reversed?"
Karen P Steel FMedSci, FRS, is Professor of Sensory Function at the Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, King’s College London. My main goal is to understand deafness, using genetics as a tool to understand the underlying molecular pathways, and my current focus is on progressive (age-related) hearing loss. My group works with both mouse and human data, using the mouse for understanding the different pathophysiological mechanisms involved in hearing loss and human genomic data to establish the most common types of deafness in the population. Several of the pathways we have identified in the mouse are good targets for drug development. I was awarded the Brain Prize for my research in 2012 and I have served the research community as an elected member of Council of the Royal Society, elected president of the International Mammalian Genetics Society, and elected president of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, among many other roles.
2022 Trainee Award
Peizhe Wu, MD, PhD
Instructor, Harvard Medical School
"Age related hearing loss in Human Temporal Bones"
Dr. Wu's research interests include researching how histopathological changes in the inner ear underly otologic diseases.
Through her research, Dr. Wu hopes to guide the development of new cell- and drug-based therapies for inner-ear repairs.
Dr. Wu also has an interest in developing new computer-based algorithmic approaches
to histopathological analysis, including artificial intelligence.
Instructor, Harvard Medical School
"Age related hearing loss in Human Temporal Bones"
Dr. Wu's research interests include researching how histopathological changes in the inner ear underly otologic diseases.
Through her research, Dr. Wu hopes to guide the development of new cell- and drug-based therapies for inner-ear repairs.
Dr. Wu also has an interest in developing new computer-based algorithmic approaches
to histopathological analysis, including artificial intelligence.
Featured Speakers
Nektarios Tavernarakis, PhD
Research Director, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas Professor, Medical School, University of Crete "The role of autophagy in ageing & neurodegenerative diseases" Nektarios Tavernarakis is Professor at the Medical School of the University of Crete, and is heading the Neurogenetics and Ageing laboratory of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB), at the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, in Heraklion, Greece. He studied Biology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and holds a PhD degree in Molecular Genetics from the University of Crete. His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of necrotic cell death and neurodegeneration, the interplay between cellular metabolism and ageing, and the mechanisms of sensory transduction and integration by the nervous system. He is an elected Member and Vice President of the European Research Council, an elected Member of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology Governing Board, and has served as Director of IMBB. He is a Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization, the Academia Europaea, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina). He is the recipient of several internationally prestigious prizes and awards. Christine Petit, MD, PhD
Professor, College de France, Institut Pasteur "FROM THE GENETIC LANDSCAPE OF SENSORINEURAL DEAFNESS TOWARDS A CURE" The molecular mechanisms underlying hearing remained unknown until the genetic dissection initiated by Christine PETIT’s identification of the genes responsible for human deafness. Through associated state-of-the-art multidisciplinary studies, Christine PETIT revealed key molecular mechanisms underlying hair-bundle functioning, including mechanoelectrical transduction and the essential roles of neglected fibrous links, the uniqueness of the hair-cell synaptic molecular machinery, and the roles of hair-bundle link proteins in the auditory cortex. She discovered the role of peroxisomes in hair cell protection against noise-induced hearing loss and deciphered the pathophysiological processes of many forms of deafness. Christine PETIT has brought hearing into the molecular era and modern-day science to deafness. She has now established the proof-of-concept for gene therapy for several forms of deafness. Shin Someya, PhD
Associate Professor & Director of Graduate Program, Department of Aging and Geriatric Research, University of Florida "Mitochondrial DNA Mutations in Hearing Loss" I am a tenured Associate Professor of Aging and Geriatric Research and Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at the University of Florida. I received my BA from the University of California, Berkeley and received my PhD from the University of Tokyo. I then pursued my postdoctoral training in the Department of Genetics at the University of Wisconsin. I have a broad background in cell biology, with specific training and expertise in aging, mitochondrial biology, and hearing loss using mice a model system. I have long-standing interests in elucidating how mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to hearing loss. Bechara Kachar, MD
Senior Investigator, NIDCD, NIH "Mechanisms for formation and loss of stereocilia-tectorial membrane attachment: implications in hearing loss and aging" Bechara Kachar, M.D. received his M.D. degree from the University of São Paulo, Brazil in 1977. He did postdoctoral research on membrane structure and intercellular junctions at the National Cancer Institute, and on cell structure and motility at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. He joined the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), NIH in 1986 and is currently Chief of The Laboratory of Cell Structure and Dynamics (LCSD). Kachar’s laboratory seeks an integrated molecular understanding of the architecture, dynamics, function, and renewal of specialized cellular structures—in particular, those underlying the mechanosensory function of auditory and vestibular sensory cells. The long-term goal of the program is to develop a framework for understanding the different forms of loss of mechanosensory function and to explore opportunities for preventive and therapeutic interventions. Kevin K. Ohlemiller, PhD
Professor of Auditory Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine "Cochlear synaptopathy in age- and noise-related hearing loss" Dr. Ohlemiller obtained his BS in Biology from Indiana University in 1983, then his PhD in Neuroscience from Northwestern University in 1990 under the direction of Jonathan Seigel. He received postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Nobuo Suga at Washington University in Saint Louis, then at the Central Institute for the Deaf (CID), also in Saint Louis. He was hired as teaching and research faculty at CID in 1995. Then he was appointed research assistant professor in Otolaryngology at Washington University School of Medicine in 2003, where he remains as a professor. Dr. Ohlemiller studies genetic aspects of noise- and age-related hearing loss. |
Ebenezer Yamoah, PhD
Professor, University of Nevada, Reno "Hearing Loss in aging and in neurodegenerative disorders" Amanda M. Lauer, PhD, MS
Associate Professor, Otolaryngology-HNS & Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University "Role of Olivocochlear Efferents in Hearing Across the Lifespan" The overall goals of my research are 1) understanding the link between perceptual deficits associated with noise-induced and age-related hearing loss relates to cochlear and brainstem changes, 2) understanding how the brain contributes to auditory dysfunction and plasticity via olivocochlear efferent feedback loops, 3) comparative pathobiology of the auditory system. More recently, my lab has incorporated human temporal bone research into our comparative studies of hearing loss. In addition to my research, I am committed to mentoring early career researchers and building a supportive, positive scientific community in our field. I also co-direct our department’s residency research T32 program, serve as chair of the NIH Communication Disorders Review Committee, serve on several scientific advisory boards, and direct the OHNS Early Career Grant Strategy Committee. Eric Bielefeld, PhD
Professor, The Ohio State University "How noise-induced hearing loss and drug ototoxicity can influence presbycusis" Eric Bielefeld received his training from SUNY at Buffalo. He joined the Speech and Hearing Science department at Ohio State in 2009. His research interests focus on inner ear pathology from different forms of acquired hearing loss, including noise, ototoxic drugs, and normal aging. His current work focuses on the interactions between these different forms of damage to the inner ear. In addition, an ongoing area of interest is in finding or developing drugs that can be given to protect the ear from these different forms of damage. His research work is being conducted in the Auditory Physiology Lab. Vilhelm Bohr, MD, PhD
Professor, National Institute on Aging, NIH "Age related hearing loss and intervention with NAD supplementation" My early professional training took place at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, where I earned an M.D. in 1978, and both Ph.D. and D.Sc. degrees in 1987. After training in neurology and infectious diseases at the University Hospital in Copenhagen, I undertook postdoctoral studies in Biochemistry in the laboratory of Dr. Hans Klenow at the University of Copenhagen, where I first became interested in nucleic acid metabolism. I developed this interest further when I held a Visiting Scholar position in the laboratory of Dr. Philip Hanawalt at Stanford University from 1982-1986. In 1986, I obtained a Junior Investigator appointment at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and advanced to a tenured Senior Investigator appointment in 1988. In 1992, I was appointed Chief of the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics at the National Institute on Aging (NIA). Throughout my career, I have made significant contributions and advanced understanding of DNA repair pathways and mechanisms and the cellular response to oxidative DNA damage and oxidative stress. I have also been especially interested in the repair and function of the mitochondrial genome. Early in my career, I developed a widely-used method for studying DNA repair in the transcribed portion of the genome and found that transcriptionally-active genes are preferentially repaired through a process now known as transcription-coupled nucleotide excision repair (TC-NER). The discovery of TC-NER provided strong evidence of the tight interaction between the cellular machineries for DNA repair and transcription in mammalian cells. In my recent studies, I have made seminal findings about the relationships between DNA damage, DNA repair capacity and aging-associated neurodegeneration, and have proposed important models describing crosstalk between the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes, as well as the importance of energy homeostasis/imbalance and mitochondrial dysfunction in aging-related neurodegenerative disease. We found that NAD level were lower in diseases with deficient DNA repair leading to mitochondrial dysfunction. Intervention with NAD supplementation has shown excellent benefits in mice and other model systems of neurodegeneration and DNA repair deficits including Alzheimers disease. Nicole Liachko, PhD
Assistant Professor/GRECC Investigator, University of Washington/VA Puget Sound Health Care System "TDP-43 in aging-related neurodegenerative diseases: insights from simple models" Nicole Liachko, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine at the University of Washington, and a Core Investigator in the Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System (VA PSHCS). Dr. Liachko’s research program centers on understanding the biology underlying neurodegenerative diseases of aging, with a focus on the proteinopathies ALS, frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), and Alzheimer’s disease. Her lab employs a variety of genetic, biochemical, transcriptomic, and imaging paradigms, with the long-term goal of developing new therapeutic targets and interventions for these devastating diseases. |
Sponsored by the Bellucci DePaoli Family Foundation. Alumnus Dr. Richard J. Bellucci, MD '42 was a national leader in the utilization of ear surgical techniques to treat conductive hearing loss. Questions? Email [email protected]. |
Hybrid One-Day Event
May 17, 2024 Free Attendance |