Oregon Hearing Research Center

About the Oregon Hearing Research Center

Overview

The Oregon Hearing Research Center (OHRC) was founded in 1966 under the Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery at Oregon Health & Science University as the Kresge Hearing Research Laboratory. 

The center currently occupies a 12,259 square-foot facility in the Hatfield Research Center Center and 10,315 square feet in the Medical Research Building at OHSU. It has support laboratories for electronics, electron microscopy, confocal microscopy, molecular biology, digital photography and histology. The OHSU Tinnitus Clinic is also located in the OHRC, and provides important treatment and research into tinnitus.

The OHRC:

• Conducts basic and clinical research on the inner ear.
• Helps patients suffering from tinnitus.
• Offers research fellowships to U.S. and foreign scientists.
• Trains students and residents in otolaryngology and auditory neuroscience.
• Collaborates with colleagues from other OHSU departments, such as the Vollum Institute and the Knight Cancer Institute,  with the Portland VA Medical Center and with  the National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research (NCRAR).

 

Our goals

The faculty and staff of the OHRC strive toward:

• A thorough understanding of the auditory and vestibular system.
• Continually developing and testing new chemical, mechanical and electrical solutions for hearing problems.

Our team

Our productive team, credited with significant scientific discoveries and with pioneering treatments and technologies, is multi-disciplinary and is made up of:

• The Center Director
• Primary Investigators / instructors
• The Tinnitus Clinic Director
• A Board-certified Otolaryngologist
• Audiologists
• Research assistants and associates
• Microscopy technicians
• Administrative professionals

Current research funding comes from the National Institutes of Health, the American Otological Society, the Medical Research Foundation of Oregon, NASA, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Deafness Research Foundation, the American Tinnitus Association and private donors. 

The Tinnitus Clinic at OHRC is the first of its kind in the nation. It was established in 1979 and has seen patients from across the United States and many foreign countries. The OHRC has been at the forefront of research into the problem of tinnitus and its relief.

Our researchers and our center

If you would like to know more about our research and the researchers at the Oregon Hearing Research Center, please click on the links in the navigation bar above.

If you have any questions, or would like to speak with one of our researchers or staff members, please feel free to contacts us.

The Oregon Hearing Research Center
Oregon Health & Science University
3181 S.W. Sam Jackson Park Road
Portland, OR 97239-3098

e-mail: ohrc@ohsu.edu 

OHRC 503 494-8032
OHRC FAX 503 494-5656
Tinnitus Clinic 503 494-7954
T.D.D. 503 494-0910

News and Notes

Support the Jack Vernon Endowment

 

Scientific Report publishes paper

"Systemic Aminoglycosides are Trafficked via Endolymph into Cochlear Hair Cells"
by Hongzhe Li and Peter S Steyger (both of the OHRC)

 

Toxicological Sciences

T Karasawa, Q. Wang, L. David, and PS Steyger wrote a paper entitled "Calreticulin binds to gentamicin and reduces drug-induced cytotoxicity", Toxilogical Sciences, 124(2), 378-387 2011, PMID 21785162

 

Integrative Biology publishes paper

T. Karasawa and PS Steyger wrote a paper called "Intracellular mechanisms of aminoglycoside-induced cytotoxicity" , Integrative Biology 3: 879-86 PMID 21799993

   

Public Library of Science One publishes paper

Hongzhe Li, Qi Wang, and Peter S. Steyger wrote a paper entitled "Acoustic Trauma Increases Cochlear and Hair Cell Uptake of Gentamicin" 

PLoS One is an interactive open-access journal for the communication of all peer-reviewed scientific and medical research. 

 

Cell Death and Disease  publishes paper

Takatoshi Karasawa, Qi Wang, and Peter S. Steyger wrote a paper in collaboration with Larry L. David (Proteomics Shared Resource) that is entitled "CLIMP-63 is a gentamicin-binding protein that is involved in drug-induced cytotoxicity". Cell Death and Disease is a new sister journal of Cell Death and Differentiation published by Nature Publishing Group.

 

Hearing Research publishes paper

A new paper on the competitive antagonism of systemic trafficking of gentamicin across the blood-labyrinth barrier was recently published in Hearing Research, authored by Peter Steyger, PhD, Qi Wang, MD/MSc, and Allan Kachelmeier of the Oregon Hearing Research Center.

 

Laryngoscope and Otology and Neurotology Publish papers

Two papers on intra-tympanic gentamicin treatment of vertigo and dizziness co-authored by Peter Steyger, PhD and Chunfu Dai, MD, PhD and his colleagues at Fudan University in Shanghai, were recently published in Laryngoscope and Otology and Neurotology

American Journal of Pathology accepts OHRC paper

Several Oregon Hearing Research Center (OHRC) scientists and researchers have recently authored and submitted a paper that was accepted for publication in The American Journal of Pathology. OHRC authors were:  Min Dai, Ph.D., M.D., Research Associate; Irina Omelchenko, M.D., Research Associate; Alfred L. Nuttall, Ph.D., Director of OHRC; Allan Kachelmeier, Research Assistant 2; and Xiaorui Shi, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor. The paper is titled, "Bone marrow cell recruitment for repair of acoustically damaged blood-labyrinth barrier mediated by a local iNOS/SDF-1 α signal pathway." The paper will be published soon

OHRC Journal Club

The OHRC Journal Club meets every Tuesday during the academic year from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Sam Jackson Hall, classroom 5314. This is an opportunity for students, trainees, and principal investigators to discuss current literature in central and peripheral auditory neuroscience. Please check back for topic and speaker schedules.