Hope for a Cure for Hearing Loss

For Ines and FrederickYeatts, Ph.D., their friendship with Zheng-Yi Chen, D.Phil., is all about mice, fish, chickens and hope for a cure for hearing loss.

“We first learned about Dr. Chen from the Boston Globe,” said Fred.  “There was a big story about his research to restore hearing by regrowing hair cells in the inner ear – and it really impressed us.  He seemed like such a smart and committed guy, we thought we’d like to help him.”

It didn’t take long for the Yeatts to call him up. Soon they found themselves in Dr. Chen’s laboratory learning more than they ever imagined about cellular and molecular biology and some exciting and promising strategies aimed at combating hearing loss.  

“This is the most exciting time for inner ear hair cell regeneration, as we have so many ways to test the involvement of many genes in the process,” said Dr. Chen.  “Our goal is to get to the underlying cause of hearing loss and fix the problem at its earliest stages of development.”

“We found Dr. Chen to be brilliant, dedicated and extremely enthusiastic,” said Fred.  “He had put together a really strong research team. We felt they were taking a unique approach and were doing marvelous work.  We asked what we could do to help.” 

“Ines and I are very grateful for the good fortune we’ve experienced in our lives.  We saw this as a chance to give back to society and help the next generation,” said Fred.  “We were happy to make a gift to help expand Dr. Chen’s research team.” 

Dr. Chen couldn’t be more thrilled to have the Yeatts’ support.  “For scientists like me, having the help and encouragement of people like the Yeatts is invaluable,” said Dr. Chen. “I think of them as my partners and enjoy sharing with them our progress each step of the way.  I cannot thank them enough.”

If you would be interested in learning more about hearing research or would like to make a gift to support the program, please contact Melissa Paul in the Development Office at 617-573-4168 or melissa_paul@meei.harvard.edu.

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