Discovery of inner ear cells may lead to new therapies

A research team led by Stefan Heller, a principal investigator at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary’s Eaton-Peabody Laboratory and assistant professor at the Department of Otology and Laryngology at Harvard Medical School, has discovered a new population of stem cells that reside in the inner ear of adult mice. Huawei Li, a postdoctoral associate of the laboratory, found that these cells give rise to new hair cells in the culture dish, as well as after transplantation into embryonic inner ears of laboratory animals. The combination of these two discoveries could eventually lead to new hope for some people who suffer from hearing loss.