To compete for the NSF funding, Bianchi had to show not only the project's scientific merit, but also how it would involve undergraduates directly in scientific work. PHOTOGRAPH BY AL FUCHS   Lynne Bianchi Receives More Funding for Inner-Ear Research By Gail Taylor
			OCTOBER 25, 1999-- The National Science Foundation (NSF) is awarding Lynne Bianchi, assistant professor of neuroscience, $180,000 over the next three years to let her and her students explore the role of Eph molecules in the development of the inner ear. Bianchi, who also receives support from the Deafness Research Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, received word of the NSF grant in August. The funding comes from NSF's Research in Undergraduate Institutions program. To compete for the funding, Bianchi had to show not only the project's scientific merit, but also how it would involve undergraduates directly in scientific work. Bianchi explains that Eph molecules are a family so named because of the kind of cells in which they were first identified (liver cells called erythropoietin heptocellular carcinoma). Scientists know that Eph molecules help guide visual development through an inhibitory role--directing nerve cells away from a path they might otherwise follow. Bianchi will explore whether the molecules play a similar role in the inner ear, and whether they play a permissive role--allowing cells to grow in a certain direction. The focus of the research--the inner ear--is a delicate, pea-sized organ tucked deep in bone tissue behind the eye. More precisely, Bianchi's interest is the inner ear's sensory epithelium--the neuron-rich tissue layer that receives sound waves and sends signals on to the brain. For the epithelium to function properly, the embryonic inner ear--which begins as a ball--must develop into a coiled structure that controls hearing (the cochlea) and a series of looped canals that regulate balance (the vestibular apparatus). The molecules of interest--the Eph molecules--exist as ligands, or signal molecules, and as receptors, or molecules that receive a signal. A ligand inserts into a receptor on an adjacent cell. The receptor in turn sets off an intracellular signaling cascade--a series of chemical signals among the molecules within its host cell. In the inner ear, Bianchi says, the Eph molecules appear "in the right place at the right time" to suggest a key role in neural development--within and around the nerve cells of the epithelium during the time that the organ unfolds into its mature shape. To learn more about the how the molecule functions, Bianchi and her students will study both living cell cultures (in vitro cultures) and Eph-null mice--mice altered genetically to lack Eph molecules. The in vitro process, Bianchi says, involves taking thin slices of embryonic inner-ear tissue (mostly from mice; sometimes from chicks) and placing them in a solution that keeps the cells alive. By adding Eph molecules to these cultures in varying concentrations and at various times, the researcher and her students can see the effects of the molecules on the developing cells. Examination of ear tissue from the Eph-null mice at various stages of development will help the researchers understand Eph molecules by seeing what happens when they are missing. Bianchi's students typically take part in her research as part of independent study or departmental honors work--developing their own hypotheses and experiments based on her work. Such projects, Bianchi says, allow students to learn laboratory techniques, explore technological tools such as digital photography, and contribute to published scientific papers. "I love having undergraduates in the lab--letting them see things for the first time," says the scientist. "They come in thinking science is all facts. In the lab, they realize how much isn't known. They're pursuing their own questions. That's what science is." Bianchi's students--including Abby Person, a senior from Helena, Montana--typically take part in her research as part of independent study or departmental honors work. PHOTOGRAPH BY AL FUCHS
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