Archive for hearing
Overcoming microtia, atresia, and speech challenges: Braelyn’s story
Eight-year-old Braelyn is a sweet, confident kid who loves everyone, dotes on her little sister Kamryn, does well in school, and never stops moving. Her parents, Danielle and Joseph, are incredibly grateful to see their daughter happy and thriving, especially after the long road it took to get here, including pharyngeal flap surgery and ear ... Read More
How I hear you: Isabelle’s cochlear implant story
Isabelle is a thriving AP student, hockey player, and online gamer who listens to music and communicates with the help of cochlear implants. When people ask about the devices behind her ears, she responds, “They’re my ears. That’s how I hear you.” Fourteen years ago, when Vicki and Jason learned one of their newborn twins ... Read More
A different kind of hearing: Caleb’s cochlear implant
Caleb recently told his mother, “I think I’m going to write my own stories.” This news didn’t surprise his parents, Wendy and Chris. For several years, 8-year-old Caleb has filled notebook after notebook with pictures and stories. His stack of favorite books includes Boxcar Children and The Chronicles of Narnia. But given some of his ... Read More
Creating hairy human skin: Not as easy as you think
Key takeaways· Scientists have created the first cultured human skin capable of growing hair embedded with fat and nerve cells. · Potential applications include burn treatments, and testing medications and cosmetics· The skin organoid system developed is a proof of concept for creating other human organoids, such as the inner ear. For more than 40 ... Read More
Gene therapy with a new base editing technique restores hearing in mice
Using a new genetic engineering technique, known as base editing, researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, have restored hearing in mice with a known recessive genetic mutation. Key takeaways· This is the first example of repairing a recessive gene mutation.· Repairing a single mutation in the Tmc1 gene restored partial hearing in ... Read More
Optimized CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing averts hearing loss in ‘Beethoven’ mice
Using a novel gene-editing approach, scientists at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School have salvaged hearing in a mouse model of hereditary deafness, with no apparent off-target effects. The system successfully identified a single misspelled “letter” in the defective copy of a gene required for hearing, disabled this aberrant copy, and spared the healthy ... Read More
Gene therapy restores hearing in deaf mice
More than 70 different genes are known to cause deafness when mutated. Jeffrey Holt, PhD, envisions a day when patients with hearing loss have their genome sequenced and their hearing restored by gene therapy. A proof-of-principle study published today by the journal Science Translational Medicine takes a clear step in that direction, restoring hearing in deaf mice. “Our gene ... Read More
How things work: Scientists find cellular channels vital for hearing
Ending a 30-year search by scientists, researchers have identified two proteins in the inner ear that are critical for hearing, which, when damaged by genetic mutations, cause a form of delayed, progressive hearing loss. The proteins are essentially transducers: They form channels that convert mechanical sound waves entering the inner ear into electrical signals that ... Read More
Gene-therapy trial will attempt to restore hearing in deaf mice
Sound waves produce the sensation of hearing by vibrating hair-like structures on the inner ear’s sensory hair cells. But how this mechanical motion gets converted into electrical signals that go to our brains has long been a mystery. Scientists have believed some undiscovered protein is involved. Such proteins have been identified for taste, smell and ... Read More