Education

• BS in Microbiology with Statistics Minor, Iowa State University
• PhD in Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Graduate Program Affiliations

• Neuroscience

Research Interests

Research Overview
Hearing loss is widespread and can be caused by aging, loud noise exposure, ear infections, or ototoxic drugs. Emerging research increasingly highlights the critical role of the immune system in the development and progression of hearing loss.

Our lab studies how immune cells respond to tissue injury in the cochlea, the sensory organ responsible for hearing. We focus on how macrophages and other immune cells regulate cochlear function and contribute to auditory outcomes. A key area of our research examines how the blood–labyrinth barrier, which is surrounded by perivascular macrophages, is regulated during ototoxic drug exposure and how immune–cochlear interactions contribute to hearing loss.  These insights will guide the development of therapeutic strategies that target the cochlear–immune axis to protect or restore hearing.

Keywords: Hearing loss, Immune cells, Macrophages, Blood-labyrinth barrier

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