Supplement for Johns Hopkins Human Temporal Bone Resource

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Research Summary Temporal bone research is essential for refining our understanding of the mechanisms of otologic disease; however, the process is difficult, expensive, and requires expertise that only a small number of active investigators have. In the parent award, we will make the Johns Hopkins human temporal bone collection more accessible to the scientific community, re-establish the infrastructure for harvesting, imaging, and processing new specimens, and develop teaching and outreach activities to increase engagement in human temporal bone research. We partner with scientists specializing in biological visualization, bilingual scientific communication, and mentoring diverse scientists to develop an inclusive, diverse scientific resource. Here we propose a supplement to the Parent grant (Johns Hopkins Human Temporal Bone Resource) to support a postdoctoral fellow who will work with our team to investigate methods for visualization and quantitative analysis of the same temporal bones as intact structures, as thick sections for gross histological assessment, and as semi- and ultrathin sections suitable for fine structure analysis using electron microscopy. For this supplement, we will 1) optimize the temporal bone processing pipeline to enhance quality and resolution of morphological data acquisition and 2) establish a workflow to analyze and correlate structural data derived from whole-organ imaging down to ultrastructural microscopy. The tissue processing protocols and workflows to be developed will enhance Aim 2 of the parent grant and will be useful for otopathology studies and assessing the feasibility/histological side effects of potential hearing and balance treatments in human cadaver ears. Additionally, the analysis protocols generated as part of this supplement will be useful in furthering our understanding of how the 3D structure of the ear relates to functional measurements derived from audiometric and vestibular tests. All protocols and analysis routines will be shared with the scientific community via the website to be developed as part of Aim 3 of the parent grant. Sharing these tools will accelerate advances in and knowledge of otopathology.