Director of the Tillotson Cell Biology Unit at Mass. Eye and Ear, Dr. Albert Edge is working toward replacing both hair cells and first order cochlear neurons of the inner ear lost to a variety of causes, including genetically determined degenerative disorders, noise trauma, and ototoxicity. Members of his laboratory are investigating endogenous stem cells in the cochlea that can generate hair cells and spiral ganglion neurons in damaged ears and is attempting to define the molecular pathways for the determination of cell fate from endogenous and embryonic stem cells.

Dr. Edge also investigates the potential of neural progenitor cells to replace auditory neurons and has developed in vitro and in vivo systems for replacement of damaged cells in the inner ear. In vitro synaptogenesis assays in the laboratory allow screening of molecules that inhibit formation of synapses between the spiral ganglion neurons and hair cells. Inhibitory axon guidance molecules decrease fiber growth to hair cells, while glutamate and neurotrophins enhance new synapse formation. They have taken these findings into the living animal and have shown that neurons derived from stem cells innervate hair cells after direct implantation into ears with hearing loss due to nerve damage. Regeneration of auditory neurons and their connections to hair cells could be a treatment for hearing loss.

He received his doctorate in biochemistry from Albany Medical College and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biological Chemistry at Harvard Medical School.