Doctorate Awarded to Hearing Researcher

This summer, doctoral degrees were awarded to several candidates who successfully defended their dissertations resulting from research conducted at Northeast Ohio Medical University with NEOMED faculty mentors as part of the cooperative Kent State University/NEOMED Biomedical Sciences program.

Congratulations to Inga Kristaponyte, who on July 9 became Dr. Kristaponyte!

Working with advisor Alexander Galazyuk, Ph.D., of the Hearing Research group, Dr. Kristaponyte (pronounced Krish-tuh-paw-NEE-teh) wrote a dissertation titled “Group II Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors Modulate Sound Evoked and Spontaneous Activity in the Mouse Inferior Colliculus.”

She explains: “We discovered that activation of group II metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) enhances sound-evoked and spontaneous neuronal firing in the inferior colliculus—the hub of the central auditory system. Our results provide better understanding of mGluR modulatory roles, which is crucial in opening avenues for using mGluR-targeting drugs to treat hearing disorders.”