Brant Lab

VA-1IK2BX004910-01A2 (Brant)

For hearing loss too severe to be helped by hearing aids, cochlear implants have become the standard of care. Though they can restore the ability to understand speech for many, current electrodes have poor selectivity for neuronal excitation due to electrical current spread inherent to conventional metal electrodes. This limits fidelity leading to difficulty with background noise, talking on the phone, and music appreciation. This project aims at developing transplantable biohybrid neural interfaces specialized for the rehabilitation of hearing (“Living Electrodes”). Neuron-specific simulation permitted by this technique might allow for higher precision in stimulation of the auditory system that cannot be approached by current implant technology.

NIH-1R21DC023247-01 (Quass)

Among the one million cochlear implant (CI) patients worldwide, a substantial population persistently struggles to understand speech after implantation for often unclear reasons. Although there is substantial evidence that central plasticity contributes to a CI patient’s performance, the exact mechanisms by which CI use engages central plasticity remains unknown. We use an in-vivo approach in mice to longitudinally record the activity of cortical neuron ensembles while mice learn to use CIs, to determine if cortical plasticity is predictive of CI outcome, ultimately providing an avenue toward novel plasticity-based outcome predictors and therapies.

While we are currently not able to take on any more students, we have many projects in the making that are currently not listed. We invite motivated students of all levels to send out their CV along with a brief statement of what they are looking for. We will save applications for when we can support students again.

Send an e-mail to Gunnar or Jason if you are interested!