Aging Auditory System: Presbycusis and Its Neural Bases - Supplement

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Abstract: The purpose of this Supplement to Promote Diversity is to provide Pre-Doctoral, Graduate student support for Ms. Jennifer Pineros, M.S., a Hispanic, woman biomedical engineer. Diversity in biomedical research, biomedical engineering, and aging research will be provided in this project in several ways, including increasing the number of Hispanics and Latinos involved in biomedical research and development, as well as increasing the number of women pursuing careers in engineering and aging research. Women are still highly under- represented in STEM areas such as engineering. Ms. Pineros, during the 2-year requested Supplemental funding period, will carry out a rigorous, multi-faceted, interdisciplinary educational research program focused on accelerating the progress of one of the Specific Aims of our current NIA Program Project grant (P01 AG009524-23), centering on discovering some of the neural bases and molecular mechanisms of age-related hearing loss, and implications for drug discovery, to prevent or slow down this highly prevalent sensory disorder involving sensory systems and the aging nervous system. Ms. Pineros' PhD project will focus on the current P01 Specific Aim 1 for our animal model projects, focusing upon Project 4. In keeping with the National Institute on Aging's mission, our experimental aims explore normal aging processes, and age-related hearing (ARHL) loss mechanisms, as these are oftentimes accelerated or exacerbated by common medical conditions of aging, such as hormonal imbalances and declines. Specifically, Ms. Pineros will be investigating the neural and molecular bases, and possible reversibility of the accelerated age-related hearing loss characteristic of medical conditions in aging; including hormonal deficiencies, imbalances and therapeutic effects relevant for ARHL – presbycusis. The experiments are carefully coordinated in a multidisciplinary way, including investigations of changes in hearing and auditory physiology, anatomical alterations, and molecular biomarker changes with hormonal imbalances and hormonal drug supplementation in aging animals. Didactic training and value added educational components of this Supplement include regular Mentor meetings, targeted formal coursework, weekly project meetings, monthly Program Project meetings, research seminars in bioengineering, aging, and at the medical school, and presentation of findings at national and international research meetings (ARO, IEEE, BMES, Soc. Neuroscience…), leading to peer- reviewed publications and completion of a PhD in biomedical engineering.