Functional characterization of Kir4.1 and its involvement in age-related hearing loss

The project focuses on the potassium channel Kir4.1 and its involvement in age-related hearing loss (AHL) development. Aging is a major risk factor for many chronic diseases and increasing attention is being addressed to the link between oxidative stress (OS), disease and ion transport, with the aim of considering transport systems as a target useful for drug development. So far, specific targets of OS in AHL are not unequivocally established. Thus the purpose of this project is to verify whether the Kir4.1 channel might be a target of OS in cell-based models of AHL

Members:
Paola Gavazzo (Principal investigator)
Michael Pusch