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BIOLOGY OF THE INNER EAR: EXPERIMENTAL
AND ANALYTICAL APPROACHES
August 19- September 1, 2007
The Marine Biological Laboratory announces a new
Special Topics Course focusing on the Biology of
the Inner Ear (BIE). The BIE course is intended to
provide students with instruction and hands-on
experience in the application of specialized
strategies and methods for overcoming the
challenges of experimental and analytical research
on the inner ear, its cells, and the systems to
which it interfaces. Through research seminars,
roundtable discussions, lectures, and laboratory
exercises where students and instructors work
side-by-side, this interdisciplinary course will
provide students with the capacity to address
important problems in auditory and vestibular
research. In addition, it will foster the
development of the students as investigators,
emphasizing opportunities for important
discoveries, innovative approaches, and the
potential for the translation of discoveries into
meaningful improvements in health care.
In the laboratory, students will use
state-of-the-art equipment to learn microdissection
procedures for harvesting inner ear tissues;
methods for culturing inner ear tissues; use of
fluorescent and immune probes for light and
electron microscope imaging the living and fixed
cochlea; modern methods of hair-cell
electrophysiology; adenoviral infection, biolistic
transfection, and electroporation for introducing
genes into hair cells; methods to produce
transgenic Xenopus; the use of zebrafish and
transgenic mice for investigations of hair cells;
the generation of inner-ear stems cells;
bioinformatic analysis of gene expression; and
other approaches.
This two-week course is ideal for students with
backgrounds in the biological or
physical/computational sciences; individuals new to
investigations of the inner ear are particularly
encouraged to apply. Substantial financial aid is
expected to be available, including for those
traveling from abroad. Additional application
information can be found at http://www.mbl.edu/education/courses/special_topics/bie.html
Course Directors: Jeffrey T. Corwin,
University of Virginia, School of Medicine; Janet
L. Cyr, West Virginia University School of
Medicine; Jeffrey R. Holt, University of Virginia,
School of Medicine.
Distinguished Scholars: Peter Dallos,
Northwestern University and A. James Hudspeth, The
Rockefeller University
Course Faculty: For a listing of
faculty, please see the course website at http://www.mbl.edu/education/courses/special_topics/bie.html
Application Deadline: May 1, 2007
Women and minorities are encouraged to apply.
MBL is an EEO/Affirmative Action Institute.
NIH funding of this course is pending.
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