Ksenia Gnedeva, PhD

Dr. Ksenia Gnedeva is an Assistant Professor in the USC Caruso Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery and the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Her research focuses on the molecular and mechanical mechanisms that regulate the development and regeneration of sensory organs, particularly the inner ear.

Dr. Gnedeva’s laboratory investigates how signaling pathways and tissue mechanics control embryonic growth of sensory organs and how developmental programs of self-renewal and differentiation can be re-initiated in the mammalian inner ear after damage. While the primary focus is on hearing and balance restoration, the lab also explores broader mechanisms that suppress regeneration in specialized sensory tissues.

Her recent work has identified key gene regulators, such as the Hippo pathway and the protein p27^Kip1, that inhibit the proliferation of sensory receptor cells following injury. By targeting these pathways, her research aims to unlock regenerative capacities in the inner ear and retina, offering potential therapeutic avenues for restoring hearing and vision in patients.

Dr. Gnedeva earned her Ph.D. in developmental and cell biology from the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and the Koltsov Institute of Developmental Biology at the Russian Academy of Sciences. She is also a member of the Hearing Restoration Project, a consortium dedicated to advancing treatments for hearing loss.

• Long-range Atoh1 enhancers maintain competency for hair cell regeneration in the inner ear Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Dec 17; 121(51):e2418098121. . View in PubMed
• Long-term expandable mouse and human-induced nephron progenitor cells enable kidney organoid maturation and modeling of plasticity and diseaseCell Stem Cell. 2024 Jun 06; 31(6):921-939. e17. . View in PubMed
• Large-scale annotated dataset for cochlear hair cell detection and classification Sci Data. 2024 Apr 23; 11(1):416. . View in PubMed
• Obtaining High-Quality Cryosections of Whole Rabbit Eye J Vis Exp. 2023 11 10; (201). . View in PubMed
• Large-scale annotated dataset for cochlear hair cell detection and classification bioRxiv. 2023 Sep 01. . View in PubMed
• SoxC transcription factors shape the epigenetic landscape to establish competence for sensory differentiation in the mammalian organ of Corti Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023 08 22; 120(34):e2301301120. . View in PubMed
• Modeling kidney development, disease, and plasticity with clonal expandable nephron progenitor cells and nephron organoids bioRxiv. 2023 May 25. . View in PubMed
• Development of an improved inhibitor of Lats kinases to promote regeneration of mammalian organs Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 07 12; 119(28):e2206113119. . View in PubMed
• Role of YAP in early ectodermal specification and a Huntington’s Disease model of human neurulation Elife. 2022 04 22; 11. . View in PubMed
• Small-molecule inhibition of Lats kinases may promote Yap-dependent proliferation in postmitotic mammalian tissues Nat Commun. 2021 05 25; 12(1):3100. . View in PubMed
• Organ of Corti size is governed by Yap/Tead-mediated progenitor self-renewal Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 06 16; 117(24):13552-13561. . View in PubMed
• Three-dimensional Organotypic Cultures of Vestibular and Auditory Sensory Organs J Vis Exp. 2018 06 01; (136). . View in PubMed
• Elastic force restricts growth of the murine utricle Elife. 2017 07 25; 6. . View in PubMed
• SoxC transcription factors are essential for the development of the inner ear Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Nov 10; 112(45):14066-71. . View in PubMed
• Derivation of hair-inducing cell from human pluripotent stem cells PLoS One. 2015; 10(1):e0116892. . View in PubMed
• Human ESC-derived neural crest model reveals a key role for SOX2 in sensory neurogenesis Cell Stem Cell. 2011 May 06; 8(5):538-51. . View in PubMed

• Chuong, Cheng-Ming
• Oghalai, John
• Chai, Yang
• McMahon, Andrew
• Warburton, David
• Shera, Christopher
• Murry, Charles