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 is starting a new project studying how the brain attaches hedonic meaning to sound.
Samuel Smith, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Sam’s human-centered research focuses on diagnostics and treatments for suprathreshold hearing disorders.
David Sorenson, BS
PhD student, SHBT
David studies neural synchronization to auditory temporal modulation at nested timescales in human subjects.
Kamryn Stecyk, BA
Research Technologist
Kamryn leads behavioral experiments testing how cortical manipulations affect sound perception with the overarching goal of restoring function following hearing loss. She also manages the mouse colony for the lab.
Divya Narayanan, BS BA
Research Technologist
Divya is interested in using imaging methods to understand neural responses to hearing loss. She also supports other projects in the lab through surgery.
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.