Exploring a novel role of neural crest during otic vesicle morphogenesis

内耳包含感觉上皮细胞，可以感知头部运动、重力和声音。直到最近，一些研究人员通过在三维环境中培养内耳干细胞，在多能干细胞中培养感觉上皮方面取得了一定的成功。人们一直认为，3D环境可以模拟正常胚胎发育过程中存在的一些特性，这些特性是干细胞建立和适当分化所必需的。在正常发育过程中，内耳是由一块扁平的组织形成的，该组织通过未知的机制转变为一个带有内腔的细胞球，内腔称为耳囊。之后这个耳囊会产生内耳的所有分支。该项目的目的是产生一个细胞，分子和生物力学的解释，耳泡是如何形成在正常发育过程中。此外，我们将利用这些信息在体外生成口腔囊泡，这将使我们能够了解这一复杂形态发生过程的亲密细节。该项目将为未来的内耳干细胞体外生成研究奠定基础，这对于内耳疾病建模或开发基于细胞的治疗深度听力损失和平衡障碍至关重要。

The inner ear contains sensory epithelia that detect head movements, gravity and sound. Only recently some researchers have reached a moderate success in developing sensory epithelia from pluripotent stem cells by culturing inner ear stem cells in a 3D environment. It has been assumed that a 3D environment can mimic some of the properties present during normal embryo develop and that are required for stem cell establishment and proper differentiation. During normal development the inner ear is formed from a flat piece of tissue that is transformed by unknown mechanisms into a ball of cells with an internal cavity, called otic vesicle. Later this otic vesicle will give rise to all derivatives of the inner ear. The aim of this project is to generate a cellular, molecular and biomechanical explanation of how the otic vesicle is formed during normal development. In addition we will use this information to generate otic vesicles in vitro, which will allow understanding the intimate details of this complex morphogenetic process. This project will lay the foundations for future research concerning the generation of inner ear stem cells in vitro, essential for modelling inner ear disorders or developing cell-based therapies for profound hearing loss and balance disorders.