{"id":4144,"date":"2021-07-12T23:00:45","date_gmt":"2021-07-13T06:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T13:32:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T20:32:26","slug":"usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\/","title":{"rendered":"USC Stem Cell study points to a common ancestor for cells involved in hearing and touch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n \n
\n \n
\n\n \n Press Release<\/span>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
\n\n \n

USC Stem Cell study points to a common ancestor for cells involved in hearing and touch<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
\n Cristy Lytal<\/span>\n \n July 12, 2021<\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n \n
\n\n \n
<\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/path><\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/path><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n
\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n
Inner ear sensory cells (left) and skin sensory cells from a one-day-old mouse (Image by Vincent Yu\/Segil Lab\/USC Stem Cell)<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n \n \n \n\n<\/div>\n \n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\r\n\r\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n \n
\n \n
\n\n \n

(Originally posted at USC Stem Cell<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The sensory cells in the inner ear and the touch receptors in the skin actually have a lot in common, according to a new study<\/a>\u00a0from the USC Stem Cell\u00a0laboratory of Neil Segil<\/a>\u00a0published in the\u00a0Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences (PNAS)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are striking similarities in the development of two types of specialized sensory cells: the so-called \u2018hair cells\u2019 that receive sound vibrations in the inner ear, and the Merkel cells that sense light touch at the surface of the skin,\u201d said Segil, who is a Professor in the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, and the USC Tina and Rick Caruso Department of Otolaryngology \u2013 Head and Neck Surgery. \u201cUltimately, these developmental similarities are a legacy of shared evolutionary history. This demonstrates how the story of evolutionary developmental biology, or \u2018evo devo,\u2019 also extends to what we call the \u2018epigenetic level\u2019\u2014or how genes are regulated.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the study, PhD student Haoze (Vincent) Yu, postdoctoral scholar Litao Tao, and their colleagues identified a shared mechanism involved in gene regulation or epigenetics, that enables stem cells and progenitor cells to differentiate into more specialized hair cells and Merkel cells.<\/p>\n

In order to begin the process of differentiation, the right parts of a stem cell\u2019s DNA need to be taken out of storage. Each human cell can store around six feet of DNA in its nucleus, because this DNA is wound around tiny \u201cspools\u201d made up of proteins called histones. These spools of DNA and histone protein are further packed together to form what are known are nucleosomes, which are stacked to create chromatin, which is the material that makes up the chromosomes.<\/p>\n

When DNA is wound tightly into this storage configuration, the chromatin is closed and inaccessible to the protein ATOH1. This protein is a \u201cmaster regulator\u201d that can activate a network of differentiation genes in the DNA within the chromatin\u2014but not without first gaining access.<\/p>\n

To this end, ATOH1 stimulates the production of a second protein known as POU4F3, an aptly named \u201cpioneer factor\u201d with the ability to venture into new frontiers by binding to closed and inaccessible chromatin. After POU4F3 blazes a trail by binding to the closed chromatin, ATOH1 is able to move forward with engaging and activating the network of genes that drives differentiation into hair cells and Merkel cells.<\/p>\n

Strikingly, there is significant overlap in the specific regions of chromatin that POU4F3 makes accessible to ATOH1 in hair cells and Merkel cells.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s remarkable that these two cell types, which are both involved in sensing mechanical stimuli but derive from distinct parts of the embryo, both rely on the same ATOH1\/POU4F3 mechanism in order to differentiate,\u201d said Segil. \u201cOur study suggests that this mechanism is extremely ancient, and emerged before hair cells and Merkel cells diverged from a common evolutionary ancestor\u2014an \u2018ur-mechanoreceptor\u2019 cell type.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional co-authors of the study include Juan Llamas, Xizi Wang, John D. Nguyen and Talon Trecek in the Segil Lab at USC.<\/p>\n

Major support for this research came from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (R01DC015829, R01DC015530, T32DC009975, F31DC017376, F31DC018703) and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (T32HD060549). Additional support came from the Hearing Restoration Project of the Hearing Health Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The cells in the inner ear and the touch receptors in the skin have a lot in common, according to a new study\u00a0from the USC Stem Cell\u00a0laboratory of Neil Segil.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":4145,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[16,78],"class_list":["post-4144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release","tag-otolaryngology","tag-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUSC Stem Cell study points to a common ancestor for cells involved in hearing and touch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"USC Stem Cell study points to a common ancestor for cells involved in hearing and touch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The cells in the inner ear and the touch receptors in the skin have a lot in common, according to a new study\u00a0from the USC Stem Cell\u00a0laboratory of Neil Segil.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/KECKschoolUSC\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-13T06:00:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-23T20:32:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/68\/2023\/11\/stem-cell-hearing-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1785\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cristy Lytal\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@KeckSchool_USC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@KeckSchool_USC\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cristy Lytal\u00a0\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d069582f631be687afcb7867ff7ebdb8\"},\"headline\":\"USC Stem Cell study points to a common ancestor for cells involved in hearing and touch\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-13T06:00:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-23T20:32:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":16,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/68\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/stem-cell-hearing-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Otolaryngology\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Press Release\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\\\/\",\"name\":\"USC Stem Cell study points to a common ancestor for cells involved in hearing and touch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/68\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/stem-cell-hearing-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-13T06:00:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-23T20:32:26+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/68\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/stem-cell-hearing-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/68\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/stem-cell-hearing-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1785,\"caption\":\"Inner ear sensory cells (left) and skin sensory cells from a one-day-old mouse (Image by Vincent Yu\\\/Segil Lab\\\/USC Stem Cell)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"USC Stem Cell study points to a common ancestor for cells involved in hearing and touch\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Keck School of Medicine of USC\",\"alternateName\":\"Keck School of Medicine\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/68\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/keck-school-of-medicine-logo-696-square.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/68\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/keck-school-of-medicine-logo-696-square.jpg\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"Keck School of Medicine of USC\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/KECKschoolUSC\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/KeckSchool_USC\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/school\\\/keckschoolusc\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/KeckSchoolUSC\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCpL1E1W5ZTfkc5iihwLSFEA\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tiktok.com\\\/@keckschoolusc\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d069582f631be687afcb7867ff7ebdb8\",\"name\":\"Cristy Lytal\u00a0\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/05aca83ee186ab3490b6e34d94853031466a1bde729268e58c7652355d86f066?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/05aca83ee186ab3490b6e34d94853031466a1bde729268e58c7652355d86f066?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/05aca83ee186ab3490b6e34d94853031466a1bde729268e58c7652355d86f066?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Cristy Lytal\u00a0\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/keck.usc.edu\\\/news\\\/author\\\/cristy_lytal\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"USC Stem Cell study points to a common ancestor for cells involved in hearing and touch","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"USC Stem Cell study points to a common ancestor for cells involved in hearing and touch","og_description":"The cells in the inner ear and the touch receptors in the skin have a lot in common, according to a new study\u00a0from the USC Stem Cell\u00a0laboratory of Neil Segil.\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\/","og_site_name":"Newsroom","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/KECKschoolUSC\/","article_published_time":"2021-07-13T06:00:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-10-23T20:32:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1785,"url":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/68\/2023\/11\/stem-cell-hearing-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cristy Lytal\u00a0","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@KeckSchool_USC","twitter_site":"@KeckSchool_USC","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\/"},"author":{"name":"Cristy Lytal\u00a0","@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d069582f631be687afcb7867ff7ebdb8"},"headline":"USC Stem Cell study points to a common ancestor for cells involved in hearing and touch","datePublished":"2021-07-13T06:00:45+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-23T20:32:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\/"},"wordCount":16,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/68\/2023\/11\/stem-cell-hearing-scaled.jpg","keywords":["Otolaryngology"],"articleSection":["Press Release"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\/","url":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\/","name":"USC Stem Cell study points to a common ancestor for cells involved in hearing and touch","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/68\/2023\/11\/stem-cell-hearing-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2021-07-13T06:00:45+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-23T20:32:26+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/68\/2023\/11\/stem-cell-hearing-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/68\/2023\/11\/stem-cell-hearing-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1785,"caption":"Inner ear sensory cells (left) and skin sensory cells from a one-day-old mouse (Image by Vincent Yu\/Segil Lab\/USC Stem Cell)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-stem-cell-study-points-to-a-common-ancestor-for-cells-involved-in-hearing-and-touch\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"USC Stem Cell study points to a common ancestor for cells involved in hearing and touch"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/","name":"Newsroom","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/#organization","name":"Keck School of Medicine of USC","alternateName":"Keck School of Medicine","url":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/68\/2023\/11\/keck-school-of-medicine-logo-696-square.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/68\/2023\/11\/keck-school-of-medicine-logo-696-square.jpg","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"Keck School of Medicine of USC"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/KECKschoolUSC\/","https:\/\/x.com\/KeckSchool_USC","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/keckschoolusc\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/KeckSchoolUSC\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCpL1E1W5ZTfkc5iihwLSFEA","https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@keckschoolusc"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d069582f631be687afcb7867ff7ebdb8","name":"Cristy Lytal\u00a0","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05aca83ee186ab3490b6e34d94853031466a1bde729268e58c7652355d86f066?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05aca83ee186ab3490b6e34d94853031466a1bde729268e58c7652355d86f066?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05aca83ee186ab3490b6e34d94853031466a1bde729268e58c7652355d86f066?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Cristy Lytal\u00a0"},"url":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/author\/cristy_lytal\/"}]}},"author_meta":{"display_name":"Cristy Lytal\u00a0","author_link":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/author\/cristy_lytal\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/68\/2023\/11\/stem-cell-hearing-300x209.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/category\/press-release\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Press Release<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Press Release<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/category\/press-release\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Otolaryngology<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/category\/press-release\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Uncategorized<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Otolaryngology<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Uncategorized<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 5 years ago","modified":"Updated 6 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on July 12, 2021","modified":"Updated on October 23, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on July 12, 2021 11:00 pm","modified":"Updated on October 23, 2025 1:32 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"Inner ear sensory cells (left) and skin sensory cells from a one-day-old mouse (Image by Vincent Yu\/Segil Lab\/USC Stem Cell)","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}