Daniel Polley, PhD. Principal Investigator
Professor of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, Harvard Medical School
Director, Eaton-Peabody Laboratories, Mass Eye and Ear
Director, Lauer Tinnitus Research Center, Mass Eye and Ear
Vice Chair for Basic Research, Dept Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, Mass Eye and Eard Ear
Dan received his BA from the University of Richmond where he hung out in the English Dept and never gave much thought to brain research until he got hooked on behavioral neuroscience while studying abroad in Argentina. For his PhD (1996-2001), he studied cortical plasticity in the rat somatosensory cortex following sensory deprivation and exposure to naturalistic habitats. For his postdoctoral research (2002-2005), he worked with Mike Merzenich at UC San Francisco on learning-related plasticity in the rat auditory cortex. He joined the faculty of the Dept. of Hearing and Speech Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center as an Ass’t Professor in 2005 and then moved his lab to Mass Eye and Ear in 2010.
Ken Hancock, PhD
CTO
Ken provides essential programming support to all ongoing projects in the lab.
Anna Chambers, PhD
Instructor
Anna is studying how endogenous brain plasticity activated during sleep interacts with hearing loss.
Kameron Clayton, PhD
Principal Scientist
Kam’s studies focus on neuromodulation for sensory rehabilitation.
Jenna Sugai, AuD
Clinical Audiologist
Jenna is studying objective biomarkers of tinnitus and hyperacusis and exploring possible multimodal tinnitus treatments
Elliott Kozin, MD
Otologist, Neurotologist
Elliot is interested in the neural mechanisms underlying the auditory phenotype of mild traumatic brain injury.
Judith Kempfle, MD
Principal Scientist
Judith’s primary research interest is in peripheral and central hearing regeneration, with a focus on interaction of non-neural structures (glia, microglia and perineuronal nets) and neural cells.
Bshara Awwad, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Bshara aims to characterize neurophysiological changes in the auditory cortex and amygdala following hearing loss
Wuzhou Yang, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Wuzhou is interested in understanding the subcortical neuronal circuitry mechanisms underlying auditory pattern recognition.
Lily Zou, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Lily studies the neural basis of sound perception. By monitoring and manipulating cortical neurons during listening tasks, she will identify neural differences between sound that are perceived vs not perceived as well as the neural substrates of phantom sounds that are perceived but don’t exist.
Samuel Smith, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Sam’s human-centered research focuses on diagnostics and treatments for suprathreshold hearing disorders.
Rebecca Sojeong Pak, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Becky studies the long-term plasticity mechanisms underlying inhibitory potentiation and the reversal of hearing disorders like tinnitus and hyperacusis
David Sorenson, BS
PhD student, SHBT
David studies neural synchronization to auditory temporal modulation at nested timescales in human subjects.
Anna Guo, BS
PhD student, SHBT
Anna has a love for all things related to microscopes and optogenetics, which she will be using to study central auditory plasticity as both a cause and a possible therapeutic target for the sequelae of cochlear sensorineural damage.
Jennifer Zhu, BA
Research Technologist
Jennifer is interested in exploring the effects of hearing loss on neuronal and non-neuronal morphology using immunohistochemistry and confocal imaging.
Molly Persky, BS
Research Technologist
Molly will be managing the lab’s mouse colony. She will also be performing behavioral experiments and surgeries.
Korey Sudana, BS
Research Technologist
Korey performs behavioral experiments to investigate sound perception following hearing loss and restorative therapies for congenital deafness. He is interested in the neuronal underpinnings of auditory cortical plasticity and music perception
Ethan Lawler, BSA
Research Technologist
Ethan is interested in the neural basis of sound sensitivity disorders and supporting research projects that will identify new treatment avenues
Elizabeth Norris
Harvard Undergraduate Student
Elizabeth is an undergraduate student at Harvard University interested in computational neuroscience and music