Upcoming Events

ICMAN Spring Symposium
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
1 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Featured Speaker: Elisabeth Glowatzki



Welcome

The Iowa Center for Molecular Auditory Neuroscience (ICMAN) was established in 2010 with a center core grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). The ICMAN was designed to enhance productivity, innovation, and collaborative interactions of auditory researchers at the University of Iowa. Center investigators are members of five clinical and basic science departments: Otolaryngology, Biology, Biochemistry, Physiology, and Communication Sciences and Disorders.

The Center consists of four research cores and provides first-rate facilities for state-of-the-art experimental techniques crucial to molecular, cell, developmental and neurobiology of the inner ear; provides training in these techniques; makes investigators aware of alternative experimental approaches and model systems that will facilitate their research; and fosters new collaborations that result in innovative approaches to problems in auditory research, including translation of basic research data to the clinic. The Research Cores are:

The ABR Core provides facilities and expertise for measurements of auditory brainstem response (ABR) and for otoacoustic emissions (OAE). Also, calibrated noise can be delivered for study of the consequences of acoustic trauma.

The Genomics Core for routine molecular biology techniques - sequencing, nucleotide synthesis, nucleic acid quantitation and quality - as well as analysis of gene expression.

The Histology and Imaging Core provides facilities and training for analysis of model organisms using light microscopy and EM: histology, including sectioning, staining, immunofluorescence, EM, and use of fluorescent dyes to label nerve fibers; confocal imaging, including multiphoton, of live or fixed tissue.

The Tissue/Cell Culture Core provides facilities and training for preparation of in vitro cochlear model systems including sensory, neural and glial cells, organotypic inner ear cultures, and means for gene transfer into these cells. Individual experiments may use multiple cores and workflow will be coordinated among Core directors.