Contact: The University of Iowa 5270 CBRB Iowa City, IA 52242 phone: 319-335-6623 fax:     319-353-5869

Frederic Venail - Pannexins

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My first research topic is about the involvement of the pannexin proteins in human hereditary hearing loss. Pannexins are a newly discovered family of proteins that are involved in the formation of cellular junctions. It has been shown that they participate in numerous physiological processes including neurotransmission, regulation of calcium waves and apoptosis. Recent evidence suggests the presence of the 3 types of pannexins in the mammalian cochlea. I am currently screening for mutations in PANX1, PANX2 and PANX3 in patients with autosomal hearing loss.

I am also interested in the physiopathology of DFNA10. We developed a murine model of DFNA10 by adding a His tag to the c-terminus part of the protein eya4. This mutant mouse displays phenotypic features similar to DFNA10. Co-immunoprecipitation studies are in progress to reveal the proteins interacting with EYA4, and thus go further in understanding the development of the human disease.