Our team has, for the last few years, been engaged in the development of gene therapies targeting hereditary early-onset forms of deafness, alongside the team of Dr. Saaid Safieddine (see the project of Dr. Saaid Safieddine).

BASIC HEARING MECHANISMS

We have adopted two complementary approaches, to decipher the complexes and molecular networks involved in the major functions of auditory sensory cells, and more specifically, auditory mechanoelectrical transduction (and the generation of sound distortions that accompanies it), and the synaptic exocytosis of a neurotransmitter (glutamate).

The first of these approaches, performed in collaboration with the laboratory of Eric Röttinger from the IRCAN (l’Institut de Recherche sur le Cancer, the Cancer Research Institute, Inserm U1081-CNRS UMR7284) in Nice, makes use of the conservation of certain functions, including mechanotransduction, in the sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis, a cnidarian invertebrate.

The second approach, in collaboration with Dr Elise Pepermans from the Center for Proteomics of the University of Antwerp, directed by Geert Baggerman), is designed to decipher the molecular complexes involved in the abovementioned functions in mice, through time-of-flight mass spectrometry, which has a very high resolution (sensitivity theoretically in the attomolar range). These two approaches will also contribute to the identification of genes involved in human deafness.