Development of the inner ear

Our aim is to understand how the inner ear develops in the embryo, and the mechanisms that ensure that the different cell types in the ear arise in the correct positions so that they can function accurately. We use embryos of a small tropical fish, the zebrafish, in our research, as this fish is a superb model for the study of vertebrate inner ear development. We use genetic and pharmacological approaches, together with live imaging, to study patterning and morphogenesis of the developing inner ear.