Team Chicken’s New Review Paper

There are many reasons why basic research, especially research using animal models that differ from humans, is essential for making discoveries. Science has unequivocally shown that all life on earth is based on the same fundamental principles and that evolution has led to millions of adaptive solutions for incredibly unique problems. The human senses of hearing and balance are functionally exquisite, but they lack a feature that becomes increasingly important as we live longer lives: the ability to self-repair. Many animals do not face this issue, and their inner ears function flawlessly, even in old age. The question is not only why but, most importantly, how are the inner ears of these animals capable of replacing lost sensory cells throughout their lives?

In a recent review written collaboratively by all laboratory members working on chicken inner ear regeneration, we explained the fundamental anatomy, cytomorphology, and molecular studies on the bird's hearing and balance organs. Moreover, we provided essential context regarding the importance of this research to guide the development of therapies for humans. It is crucial to keep in mind that less than 1% of research funding is allocated to avian inner ear regeneration, and particularly NIH support, which has been extremely low for many decades, has not expedited this research. We constantly have to justify why the “promise” of hair cell regeneration findings in birds has not yielded measurable results for humans; yet, the fact that 99% or more of the research dollars spent on mammalian and human research also failed to produce measurable results is not a concern. In fact, the first molecular studies on specific inner ear gene discoveries were conducted in the bird inner ear, and many fundamental discoveries regarding how the inner ear develops from a thickening of the ectoderm in the early embryo were made using the chicken as a model system. I am not attempting to complain, but it is vital to keep this research alive, and rather than decreasing funding levels, it is essential to increase funding to leverage the solutions nature has already provided to cure a disabling human sensory disorder.

In any case, congratulations to Team Chicken, led by Dr. Nesrine Benkafadar and consisting of graduate students Lyn, Austin, and Celeste, as well as postdoctoral fellow Ishwar! This paper is extremely clearly written and addresses many important features of the avian inner ear that make it such a powerful research subject. We hope it will inspire our colleagues and interested students. Here is a link to the new paper.