Lab Update – Eri Hashino, PhD

The 3D Stem Cell Biology Research Group, led by Eri Hashino, PhD, Ruth Holton Professor of Otology, investigates mechanisms of congenital inner ear disorders

In 2013, a group led by Eri Hashino, PhD, created inner ear tissue from mouse embryonic stem cells using a three-dimensional (3D) cell culture method. And in 2017, they developed a method to grow inner ear tissue from pluripotent human stem cells, called “human inner ear organoids,” which mimic the structure and function of native human inner ear tissues.

In a 2022 publication, “CHD7 regulates otic lineage specification and hair cell differentiation in human inner ear organoids,” featured in Nature Communications, the Hashino Laboratory scientists found that loss of CHD7 or its chromatin remodeling activity leads to complete absence of hair cells and supporting cells, which can be explained by dysregulation of key otic development-associated genes in mutant otic progenitors. Results from transcriptome profiling of hair cells revealed disruption of deafness gene expression as a potential underlying mechanism of CHARGE-associated sensorineural hearing loss.