mechanotransduction

From disastrous scientific setbacks to the upending of scientific dogma and the end of a 40-year search for a protein

After a decades-long pursuit, researchers have confirmed the identity of the pore of the mechanotransduction channel in vertebrates’ inner ear hair cells.

Localization of two proteins important for inner ear hair cell function suggests they are part of the elusive mechanotransduction channel. 

How the human ear translates sound waves into nervous impulses

Common in vitro experiments have distorted the true mechanics of mammalian hair cell stereocilia.

Hearing loss can occur for a variety of reasons, and sometimes more than one.

Expressing a gene for a component of the inner ear’s hair cells treated a form of genetic deafness.

A combination of microinjection and electroporation inserts genes into hard-to-reach cells.

Researchers have nailed down yet another component of the mechanotransduction complex responsible for relaying signals from hair cells in the ear.

Tools and techniques for measuring forces in living cells

Actin filaments respond to pressure by forming branches at their curviest spots, helping resist the push.

A Channel at Large What is the mechanotransduction channel in hearing that has evaded scientists for decades?