The focus of Dr. Riazuddin’s laboratory is investigating the genetic factors associated with hearing impairment and understanding the precise mechanism of various forms of hearing dysfunction using human pedigrees, mutant mouse models and zebrafish as tools. A complementary study in her lab is focused on identifying the modifier genes that can preclude the effect of disease causing mutations and the mechanism, by which they confer resistance to pathogenic mutation. The long-term goal of this research is to contribute to a better understanding of the molecular mechanism of inherited hearing loss with the aim of discovering drugs or treatments to prevent this disease.

Animals: Mouse, Zebrafish