Embryonic stem cells serve as powerful models for the study of development and disease and hold enormous potential for future therapeutics. Yet, over two decades after mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) were first isolated, ...

A mechanotransduction model aims to explain how a cell senses mechanical forces and translates them into molecular events, such as changes in intracellular ion concentrations, gene expression, post-translational protein ...

This thesis explores two important factors that constrain the syntactic parser of the sentence processing mechanism, syntactic storage costs and plausibility information. It uses behavioral methods to explore the characteristics ...

The prevalence of severe to profound bilateral congenital hearing loss is estimated at 1 in 1000 births, at least half of which can be attributed to a genetic cause. To date, mutations in at least 67 genes have been ...

Otitis media (OM) is the most common specifically-treated childhood disease in the United States. The widespread use of systemic antibiotics against a disease of such high incidence is believed to be a driving force behind ...

Unlike lower vertebrates, capable of spontaneous hair cell regeneration, mammals experience permanent sensorineural hearing loss following hair cell damage. Although low levels of hair cell regeneration have been demonstrated ...

Recovery from central nervous system (CNS) injuries is hindered by a lack of spontaneous regeneration. In injuries such as stroke and traumatic brain injury, loss of viable tissue can lead to cavitation as necrotic debris ...

Bacterial infections represent a significant source of morbidity and mortality. Biofilms and antibiotic resistance pose challenges to our future ability to treat bacterial diseases with antibiotics (1). Bacteria frequently ...