# Genetics of Zebrafish Hair Cell Toxicity

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2020 · $525,746

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The vast majority of hearing and balance impairments are thought to be due to death of sensory hair cells, the
receptor cells of the inner ear. These cells are unusually metabolically active and hypersensitive to damage
from overstimulation, exposure to some therapeutic drugs and environmental toxins, and to aging. Growing
evidence indicates that hair cell loss from gram-negative antibiotics, antineoplastic drugs, excessive noise
exposure and possibly aging share some common cellular pathways. The goals of our research program,
requesting continued funding for Years 16-20, are to understand the pathways that regulate death and survival
of inner ear hair cells, and to use this information to facilitate development of therapeutic agents to prevent
hearing loss. Three groups of experiments are proposed: a) determine roles of the lysosome in both promoting
and preventing damage caused by aminoglycoside antibiotics; b) identify the cellular mechanisms and
molecular targets of a new therapeutic drug that protects hair cells against antibiotic-induced ototoxic damage;
and c) test whether this new therapeutic will protect in vivo against cisplatin toxicity. An assumption of our
work is that highly conserved properties of HC function render them unusually vulnerable to antibiotic and
antineoplastic drug toxicity. Thus, in addition to clinical implications for preventing hearing and balance
disorders, these studies may also reveal important aspects of normal HC function that give rise to their
vulnerability.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9884751
- **Project number:** 5R01DC005987-17
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** David W Raible
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $525,746
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2003-04-01 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9884751

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9884751, Genetics of Zebrafish Hair Cell Toxicity (5R01DC005987-17). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9884751. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*