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Faculty
Ulrich Mueller
Professor
Department of Cell Biology
TSRI - 2003
Education
Research Focus
Auditory Perception and Neuronal Circuit Formation: From Mouse Models to Human Genetic Disease
A fundamental unresolved question in biology is how our nervous system creates an internal representation of the external world. Sense organs convert signals such as light and sound into electrical impulses that are processed by the nervous system to create a reflection of our surroundings and to elicit appropriate behavioral responses. Selective pressures during evolution have shaped our genome and optimize sense organs and neuronal circuits for their tasks. Of all our sensory systems, the auditory system is the least well understood at the molecular level. My laboratory identifies and studies genes that control the function of the auditory sense organ of mammals. We also analyze the mechanisms that establish neuronal connections between the auditory sense organs and the cerebral cortex, and the formation of cell layers and neuronal circuits within the cortex.
Selected References
Kazmierczak, P.†, Sakaguchi, H. †, Tokita, J., Wilson-Kubalek, E.M., Milligan, R.A., Müller, U.*, and Kachar, B.* (2007). Cadherin 23 and protocadherin 15 interact to form tip-link filaments in sensory hair cells. Nature 449, 87-91.
† co-first authors, * co-corresponding authors
Schwander, M., Sczaniecka, A., Grillet, N., Bailey, J.S., Avenarius, M., Najmabadi, H., Steffy, B.M., Federe, G.C., Lagler, E.A., Banan, R., Hice, R., Grabowski, L., Keithley, E.M., Ryan, A.F., Housley, G.D., Wiltshire, T., Smith, R.J.H., Tarantino, L.M., and Müller, U. (2007). A Forward Genetics Screen in Mice Identifies Recessive Deafness Traits and Reveals that Pejvakin is Essential for Outer Hair Cell Function. J. Neurosci.27, 2163-2175.
Belvindrah, R., Hankel, S., Walker, J., Patton, B.L., and Müller, U. (2007). β1 integrins control the formation of cell chains in the adult rostral migratory stream. J Neurosi. 27,
2704-2717.
Siemens, J., Lillo, C., Dumont, R.A., Williams, D., Gillespie, P.G., and Müller. U. (2004) CDH23 is a component of the tip link in hair cell stereocilia. Nature 428, 950-955
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