Dr. Steiner's research focuses on the regeneration of sensory systems, with emphasis on sensory hair cells. These cells transduce mechanical forces in the inner ear into electrical signals that can be received and interpreted by the brain, and are responsible for our senses of hearing and balance. Hair cells are delicate and can be damaged or destroyed by loud noises and certain medicinal drugs. In humans and other mammals these cells are not naturally regenerated, leading to hearing loss. Fishes and other non-mammalian vertebrates, however, naturally regenerate hair cells throughout life. Dr. Steiner uses the zebrafish as a model system to understand the cellular and molecular processes that enable hair-cell regeneration in such animals, with the goal of identifying new routes to inducing hair-cell recovery in the human ear.
