 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
The study of the auditory and vestibular systems is crucial for
understanding inner ear medical conditions such as deafness and
Ménière’s Disease. The Biology of the Inner Ear Course
(BIE) course provides a focused and intense approach that typifies
other challenging and highly successful MBL courses to the specific
needs of auditory and vestibular research. This three-week
multi-disciplinary course provides instruction and hands-on laboratory
training in cutting-edge techniques and many specialized methods that
can present sizable barriers for individuals who wish to enter into
investigations of the inner ear, including the dissection of inner ear
sensory organs. The students are introduced to the fundamentals of
inner ear research through lectures, research seminars, roundtable
discussions, and informal interactions when students and instructors
work side-by-side in the laboratory. The course fosters the development
of the students as investigators working in the inner ear, emphasizing
not just what is known, but also the opportunities for important
discoveries, innovative new approaches, and the translation of those
discoveries into meaningful improvements in our understanding of the
inner ear. The course is designed to accommodate a relatively small
number of students and is suitable for individuals with backgrounds in
the biological, chemical, and physical/computational sciences.
In the laboratory, students use state-of-the-art equipment to learn
microdissection procedures for harvesting inner ear organs from a
variety of species; methods for culturing inner ear organs in vitro;
use of fluorescent and immune probes for light and electron microscopy;
modern methods of hair-cell electrophysiology; adenoviral infection,
biolistic transfection, and electroporation for introducing genes into
hair cells; the use of zebrafish and transgenic mice for investigations
of hair cells; the generation of inner-ear stems cells; bioinformatic
analysis of gene expression; and other approaches. During laboratory
sessions the students benefit from one-on-one instruction from faculty
members who are all leaders in the auditory and vestibular fields. The
goal of this course, however, is not merely to introduce students to
the technical aspects of working in the inner ear, but also to instill
in them the important questions of the field and the challenges we are
faced in addressing these questions.
Over 30 of the top inner-ear scientists from the United States and
abroad participate in teaching the BIE course. This unique opportunity
offers students the chance to interact with, learn from, and form
connections with some of the most highly regarded scientists in the
field.
2011 Faculty
Jonathan Ashmore, University College London
Karen Avraham, Tel Aviv University
Jim Bartles, Northwestern University
Inna Belyantseva, National Institutes of Health (NIDCD)
John Brigande, Oregon Health and Science University
Bill Brownell, Baylor College of Medicine
Catherine Carr, University of Maryland
Ping Chen, Emory University School of Medicine
Douglas Cotanche, Boston University School of Medicine
Michael Deans, Johns Hopkins
Ruth Anne, Eatock, Harvard Medical School
Albert Edge, Harvard Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary
Andy Forge, University College London
Paul Fuchs, Johns Hopkins
Jonathan Gale, University College London
Gwen Geleoc, University of Virginia
Elizabeth Glowatzki, Johns Hopkins
Chris Halpin, Harvard Medical School
Stephan Heller, Stanford
Steve Highstein, Washington University
Jim Hudspeth, Rockefeller University
Matt Kelley, National Institutes of Health (NIDCD)
Darlene Ketten, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Charlie Liberman, Harvard Medical School
Mike Lovett, Washington University
Anna Lysakowski, University of Chicago
Uli Mueller, Scripps
Eduardo Perozo, University of Chicago
James Pickles, The University of Queensland Australia
Dave Raible, University of Washington
Heidi Rehm, Harvard Medical School
Guy Richardson, Sussex
Mark Warchol, Washington University
Doris Wu, National Institutes of Health (NIDCD)
Ebenezer Yamoah, University of California Davis
Jian Zuo, St. Jude
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
