LAHLOU Hanaé
Project status: closed
Hearing disorders represent a major public health issue. It is the most common form of sensory deficit, affecting one in every thousand newborns and a significant proportion of the elderly population.
In most cases, hearing loss is associated with the destruction of the hair cells in the inner ear. This can be due to environmental factors (exposure to noise, ototoxic drugs, aging, etc.) or genetic factors. In humans and other mammals, the body is incapable of regenerating hair cells. The resulting hearing loss is often irreversible.
Ms. Lahlou’s research project is aimed at developing innovative therapies for generating new cells. She will attempt to grow precursors to hearing cells from reprogrammed human stem cells, known as induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. These iPS cells can be modulated and are able to multiply endlessly while producing different cell types.
Once these cells are generated and finely characterized, they will be transplanted into mice with damaged hair cells to examine whether they are capable of generating hair cells in the inner ear.
This study will provide a better understanding of the mechanisms controlling the production of hair cells in the inner ear, and represents an important step toward the development of stem cell therapy for hearing disorders.
Hanae Lahlou
PhD studentship
Sensory and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, (Laboratoire de Neurosciences Sensorielles et Cognitives), Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France
Related scientific publication(s):
- Hanae Lahlou, Alejandra Lopez-Juarez, Arnaud Fontbonne, Emmanuel Nivet , Azel Zine. Modeling human early otic sensory cell development with induced pluripotent stem cells. PLoS One. 2018 Jun 14;13(6):e0198954. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0198954. eCollection 2018.
- Hanae Lahlou, Emmanuel Nivet, Alejandra Lopez-Juarez, Arnaud Fontbonne, Said Assou, Azel Zine. Enriched Differentiation of Human Otic Sensory Progenitor Cells Derived From Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. Front Mol Neurosci. 2018 Dec 20;11:452. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2018.00452. eCollection 2018.
- Alejandra Lopez-Juarez, Hanae Lahlou, Chantal Ripoll, Yves Cazals, Jean Michel Brezun, Quan Wang, Albert Edge, Azel Zine. Engraftment of Human Stem Cell-Derived Otic Progenitors in the Damaged Cochlea. Mol Ther. 2019 Jun 5;27(6):1101-1113. doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2019.03.018. Epub 2019 Apr 2.