NIDCD* says hair cell regeneration by gene therapy must be a funding priority.
This research can lead to the re-growth of cells in the cochlear and restore hearing.
A strand of human DNA
The magazine Scientific American has made a list of 50 trends in research that should have priority for funding. Research into gene therapy for the regeneration of auditory hair cells is listed as a priority area.
The Researchers were Yehoash Raphael, Ph.D., University of Michigan Medical
School, Ann Arbor, and Zheng-Yi Chen, Ph.D., Massachusetts General Hospital,
Boston. They carry out their research on guinea-pigs and mice.
”The ability to grow new auditory hair cells to replace damaged ones is a research priority. It holds tremendous promise,” says the director of NIDCD James F. Battey,
Jr., M.D., Ph.D. “Our hope is that this and other research in gene therapy may one day be used to effectively treat sensorineural hearing loss in people.”
Healthy hair cells in the cochlear. Hair cells that are destroyed.
Hair cells are small sensory cells in the inner ear. They convert sound vibrations into electrical signals, which are interpreted—or “heard”—by the brain. When hair cells become damaged—either by disease, injury, or aging—a person experiences hearing loss, sometimes profound. While fish, amphibians, and birds are able to grow new hair cells to replace damaged ones, mammals cannot regenerate hair cells on their

own.
The studies involve coaxing new auditory hair cell growth by either inserting a gene that promotes hair cell growth or by deleting a gene that prevents it. Dr. Raphael and his team used a modified virus to transport the gene into non-sensory epithelial cells in the inner ears of deafened guinea-pigs. After eight weeks, the scientists discovered new hair cell growth in the inner ears of the guinea pigs as well as improved hearing function.
December 23, 2005
* Nation Institute for deafness and other communication disorders. A government body funding research in the USA.
Adapted from deafness.about. com.
Illustrasjoner fra lifesci.sussexac.uk , nationalgeografical. com and livesoundint.com
1.
Find out what “gene therapy” is and write a short description using diagrams if necessary.
2.
Write an article for a local newspaper about gene therapy. Discuss the advantages of gene therapy and the dangers, seen from the Deaf community’s point of view.
3.
Write a personal text about your feelings towards medical research into deafness.
4.
Write a science fiction story about a deaf child being born in the year 2100.
5.
You are going to write a thriller for the teenage magazine “ Spine chilling ”. Write about an industrial spy set in a gene therapy laboratory.