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Spring 2011
Feature Article
What happens when expectation and sensation meet in the mouth? This is what fascinates NIDCD grantee Alfredo Fontanini, M.D., Ph.D., who studies the gustatory cortex, the area of the brain that processes and interprets taste. In his way of looking at things, taste isn’t just a straight-up report from the taste buds on our tongue. Read more.
Recent Research and News
The precise staircase formation of stereocilia, the bundles of super-sensitive fibers that perch atop the sensory cells that line the inner ear, are a marvel of biological engineering. But how do stereocilia know when to grow and when to stop? NIDCD-supported researchers find clues in the activities of three special proteins that transport, assemble, and regulate the length of stereocilia. Read more.
How do stereocilia move in response to sound vibrations and create the electrical signals that travel to the brain and say “sound”? An NIDCD researcher has used sophisticated computer modeling and a knowledge of fluid physics to recreate the dance-like movements of stereocilia. Read more.
The key to the origins of tinnitus, according to recent findings from NIDCD-funded researchers, may reside in an area of the brain that acts like a gatekeeper to keep tinnitus signals from travelling onward to the place where they will be interpreted as sound. Read more.
New findings in auditory neuropathy, hyperacusis, and autoimmune-related hearing loss were presented at the Midwinter Meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology. Read more.
NIDCD-supported researchers presented the results of their most recent work exploring the effects of inflammation on taste buds and a potential role for the olfactory bulb in the development of Alzheimer’s disease at the annual Association for Chemoreception Scientists meeting. Read more.
NIDCD Highlights
Lisa L. Cunningham, Ph.D., has joined the NIDCD Intramural Division as acting chief of the Section on Sensory Cell Biology. Read more.
Working groups convene to sketch out the NIDCD Strategic Plan for 2012-2016. Read more.
The Acoustical Society of America joins the Noisy Planet team. Read more.
Grants News
A Q&A with NIDCD’s Christopher Platt, Ph.D., about a small grant that makes a big difference in the lives of undergrads interested in biomedical research. Read more.
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