Naomi Richelew
Pronouns: She/her
Research Mentor(s): Gabriel Corfas
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Kesge Hearing Research Institute / Medicine
Program:
Authors: Luis Cassinoti, Gabriel Corfas, Gabriel Corfas
Session: Session 2: 10:00 am – 10:50 am
Poster: 9
Abstract
Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) results from complex progressive alterations of the auditory system. This pathology has psychological and medical impacts including social isolation, frailty, depression and cognitive decline. In the US, the prevalence of hearing impairments doubles every decade of life after age 50. Despite being the most prevalent sensory deficit in older adults, and having large societal and economic impact, no therapies to prevent or slow ARHL exist. This is, in part, because the cellular and molecular mechanisms of ARHL remain largely unexplored. By using mice, here, we investigate age-related changes in gene expression to understand a gene’s impact on hearing in middle-aged mice. We used bulk RNA sequencing to identify differentially expressed genes in the inner ear comparing young mice (8 weeks old), to middle-aged mice (62 weeks old). Out of the 21,942 detected genes, 912 of them were up-regulated, and 1277 genes were down-regulated in middle aged mice representing about ten percent of the genes had a change in expression. Then we narrowed our search and looked for highly differentially expressed genes (> 4-fold). We identified 70 up-regulated and 218 down-regulated genes (1.3% of the total detected genes). From this shorter list, we individually addressed each gene looking for potential molecules or mechanisms as candidates that could help in the development of therapies to prevent, reduce, or reverse ARHL.
