GROWING sound-detecting hair cells from embryonic stem cells is the latest advance in the race to develop an alternative to cochlear implants for treating some forms of deafness.
Stefan Heller’s team at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston generated the hair cells by exposing mouse embryonic stem cells to the chemical factors that a normal hair cell would encounter. The cells developed into normal-looking hair cells when implanted in chicken embryos (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/ pnas.2334503100).
Another group has shown that gene therapy can turn other inner ear cells into hair cells …
