Su-Hua Sha
Medical University of South Carolina, SC·Neuroscience
Loud noise can permanently damage hearing. It does this by killing outer hair cells, the sensory cells in the inner ear that amplify sound.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Pharmacology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
noise-induced hearing loss
outer hair cells
cochlea
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Feb 2027
What they work on
- Test whether prolonged activation of AMPKα, an energy-sensing enzyme, by CaMKK2, LKB1 or reactive oxygen species triggers outer hair cell death after noise exposure in adult mice, using virus-delivered shRNA to silence these genes.
- Determine whether activated CaMKK2 moves the gene regulator NFAT into outer hair cell nuclei and switches on cytokine genes, using single-cell RNA-seq with gene set enrichment analysis and RNAscope in-situ hybridization.
- Test whether blocking several hair cell death pathways at once with siRNAs and drugs gives stronger, synergistic protection against noise-induced hearing loss in mice exposed to noise of varying severity.
More about the research
No approved drug can prevent noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), largely because the chain of molecular events that kills these cells is not fully understood. This project traces that chain in mice and tests ways to block it.
Why it matters
There are currently no established drugs to prevent noise-induced hearing loss. By identifying the signals that kill outer hair cells, this work could point to drug targets and combination treatments that protect hearing in people exposed to loud noise. It could also improve their quality of life and reduce healthcare costs. Because the mechanisms overlap, the findings may also inform drug-induced and age-related hearing loss.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Xiaodong Tan
Northwestern University, IL·Pharmacology
Confirm that honokiol protects hearing and activates sirtuins, enzymes that drive the cell's antioxidant defenses, in tumor-bearing mice receiving cisplatin chemotherapy.
Bo Hua Hu
University of Texas at Dallas, TX·Neuroscience
Determine how galectin-3, a sugar-binding immune protein, maintains hearing and cochlear structure, using mice in which the Lgals3 gene that encodes it has been disrupted.
Jong-Hoon Nam
University of Rochester, NY·Biomedical Engineering
Measure how length changes in outer hair cells deflect the stereocilia, the hair-like sensors on hair cells, using in vitro cochlear preparations where individual outer hair cells are controlled electrically, chemically and mechanically.
The school
Medical University of South Carolina: 19 labs on PI Pages, $321M a year on research, 271 research doctorates a year.
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