USC Stem Cell scientists find a simpler way to make sensory hearing cells - USC News
An organ of Corti from a one-day-old mouse, showing sensory hair cells in green, supporting cells in purple, and cell nuclei in blue. (Image by Yassan Abdolazimi/Segil Lab) Scientists from the USC Stem Cell laboratories of Neil Segil and Justin Ichida are whispering the secrets of a simpler way to generate the sensory cells of the inner ear . Their approach uses direct reprogramming to produce sensory cells known as “hair cells,” due to their hair-like protrusions that sense sound waves. The study was published today in the journal eLife . “We’ve succeeded in directly reprogramming a variety of mouse cell types into what we’re calling ‘induced hair cell-like cells, or iHCs,” said PhD student Louise Menendez, the study’s lead author. “This allows us to efficiently generate large numbers of iHCs to identify causes and treatments for hearing loss.” The scientists successfully reprogrammed three different types of mouse cells to become iHCs. The first two types were embryonic and a