Raible awarded NIH grant for "Zebrafish inner ear regeneration”

David Raible, PhD, has been awarded an R21 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a project titled "Zebrafish Inner Ear Regeneration." The project launched in January 2022 and is currently funded through December 2023.
 
Dr. Raible is the Virginia Merrill Bloedel Professor and Professor of Otolaryngology-HNS and Biological Structure. He has been awarded numerous NIH grants during his ~25 years at the University of Washington, but this is his first since joining the faculty of Otolaryngology-HNS.

Hair cell loss in the inner ear is a leading cause of hearing and balance disorders. Unfortunately, hair cell loss in humans is permanent, as we have little or no capacity for regenerative recovery of hair cells. However, regeneration does occur in other species, including zebrafish. Dr. Raible and his colleagues will be developing tools to study hair cell regeneration in the zebrafish inner ear, leading to a new model for genetic and molecular analysis of hair cell regeneration.

The above image is of gene expression in zebrafish inner ear hair cells, from graduate student Marielle Beaulieu in Dr. Raible's lab.