1990 — 2010 |
Mountain, David C. |
R01Activity Code Description: To support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing his or her specific interest and competencies. |
Active Filtering in the Cochlea @ Boston University Medical Campus
Recent experimental evidence suggests that the outer hair cells of the mammalian cochlea act as electromechanical amplifiers which increase hearing sensitivity one-hundred-fold. The long term goal of the proposed research is to confirm this hypothesis and to clarify our understanding of the underlying mechanisms. The specific aim of this proposal is to obtain experimental evidence in support of a detailed hypothesis describing the function of the cochlear amplifier. Our specific hypothesis is that the outer hair cell receptor current regulates a force-generation process which is located in the hair cell stereocilia. This force is coupled to the basilar and tectorial membranes and significantly increases the mechanical stimulus to the inner hair cells. We plan to stimulate the force-generation process through the injection of electrical current into scala media of the cochlea and to measure the resulting mechanical response as an otacoustic emission at the tympanic membrane. We will also use acoustic stimulation and measure the cochlear microphonic to study the role of the outer hair cell receptor current. We will study the effects of experimental manipulations which modify the amplification process. The effects of stimulation of the cochlear efferents on the force-generation process will also be studied. The results of the proposed experiments as well as previous experiments by ourselves and others will be interpreted with the aid of computational models. The computational models are physically based and include specific descriptions of the properties of the basilar and tectorial membranes as well as the hair cell transduction processes.
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1994 — 1998 |
Hubbard, Allyn (co-PI) [⬀] Mountain, David |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Forward and Reverse Travelling Waves in the Cochlea @ Trustees of Boston University
9320326 Mountain The cochlea is the complex structure in the inner ear that contains an elastic membrane, the basilar membrane, which oscillates in response to sound. The oscillations stimulate mechanosensory cells called hair cells, which send signals to the auditory nerve. A remarkable finding around 15 years ago showed that one group of hair cells, the outer hair cells, can themselves show motility, and so act as electromechanical elements that can modulate cochlear sensitivity. As a byproduct of that function, the outer hair cell activity is transmitted as acoustical energy back out of the ear, producing measurable sounds called otoacoustic emissions, which have been used by scientists and clinicians as a non-invasive tool to study cochlear function. This project uses electrophysiology, computer simulation, and measurements of the otoacoustic emissions to examine several novel hypotheses about how the basilar membrane vibration and the outer hair cell activity may be involved in normal cochlear function. It will specifically evaluate where the non-linearities in amplification occur in the cochlea, and whether the basilar membrane may have modes of oscillation different from the classical traveling-wave form. Results from this unique combined physiological and modeling approach will have an impact on all auditory neuroscience, and novel findings will have important impact not only on handling of hearing disorders, but on design of auditory communications, and on biomechanics and bioengineering. ***
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0.915 |
1994 — 1997 |
Atema, Jelle (co-PI) [⬀] Chryssostomidis, Chryssostomos (co-PI) [⬀] Mountain, David Voigt, Ranier Consi, Thomas |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Search Strategies For Locating Underwater Odor Sources: Robots and Lobsters @ Trustees of Boston University
9315791 Atema Neurobiological and behavioral studies on lobsters have taught us that turbulent (underwater) odor plumes contain directional information based on its patchy fine structure. To measure biologically relevant signals, sensor technology capable of high- resolution (30m, 5ms) chemical signal analysis has been developed. Lobsters locate odor sources efficiently based on bilateral sampling with antennules. Chemoreceptor cells in the antennules are capable of frequency analysis similar to (but slower than) acoustic signal processing. This research tests the hypothesis that bilateral analysis of pulse features is the basis for turbulent chemotaxis. Lobsters, computational models and physical models, i.e., untethered robots, will be employed for this task. Lobster-generated hypotheses will be tested in robots equipped with search paradigms that are pre-tested with computational models. Robot failures to locate efficiently will lead to re-examination and testing of lobsters. Further advances in our knowledge of signal processing in lobsters will be used to update computational models and robot search algorithms. 1. Two small underwater robots will be designed and tested to have the size, mobility and chemical sensing capabilities of a lobster (the benefit vehicle) and a fish (the free swimming vehicle). 2. The vehicles will be used to characterize the spatial and temporal dynamics of underwater chemical plumes in two and three dimensions. 3. The vehicles will be used to test chemo-sensing algorithms proposed for lobsters and fish concentrating on algorithms involved with chemical source localization which is the basic behavior underlying the finding of food and mates. Significant advances in underwater robotics design and in understanding chemosensory signal processing is expected. ***
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0.915 |
2001 — 2005 |
Mountain, David C. |
R01Activity Code Description: To support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing his or her specific interest and competencies. |
Earlab: a Virtual Hearing Laboratory
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-range goal of the EarLab project is to create realistic, web-based models capable of predicting human auditory responses to a wide range of acoustic stimuli or environmental insults. Applications range from predicting how acoustic over-stimulation leads to hearing impairment to explaining how humans are able to function in complex acoustic environments. To achieve our goal we will synthesize and integrate existing information on mammalian hearing and create tools that will facilitate effective interaction between investigators from different research disciplines. The models will improve our ability to take the knowledge obtained from animal models and apply it to humans. In the process of constructing and integrating the EarLab models and tools, data gaps will be identified that will need to be filled by future animal and/or human studies. The neuroscience objectives are to: 1) develop an integrated model of cochlear function, 2) develop a model of noise-induced hearing loss, and 3) develop integrated models of sound-source localization. The informatics goals are: 1) to create the computational infrastructure for a web-based auditory modeling environment, 2) to create an intelligent virtual laboratory that will allow rapid reconfiguration of simulations and interchange of model modules, as well as reference information to aid simulation design, and 3) to develop a user interface for model configuration and data visualization.
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2006 — 2010 |
Mountain, David C. |
P30Activity Code Description: To support shared resources and facilities for categorical research by a number of investigators from different disciplines who provide a multidisciplinary approach to a joint research effort or from the same discipline who focus on a common research problem. The core grant is integrated with the center's component projects or program projects, though funded independently from them. This support, by providing more accessible resources, is expected to assure a greater productivity than from the separate projects and program projects. |
Engineering Core @ Boston University (Charles River Campus)
Calibration; Collaborations; Communities; Computer Simulation; Computer software; Computer Systems; Computers; Data; data acquisition; Data Analyses; data management; design and construction; Development; Electronics; Engineering; Equipment; Equipment Design; Faculty; Fostering; Hearing; improved; instrumentation; Laboratories; Linux; Maintenance; member; Modeling; Operating System; Physiological; Productivity; programs; Psychophysiology; Research; research study; simulation; Structure; Students; System; Systems Analysis
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2011 — 2015 |
Mountain, David C. |
P30Activity Code Description: To support shared resources and facilities for categorical research by a number of investigators from different disciplines who provide a multidisciplinary approach to a joint research effort or from the same discipline who focus on a common research problem. The core grant is integrated with the center's component projects or program projects, though funded independently from them. This support, by providing more accessible resources, is expected to assure a greater productivity than from the separate projects and program projects. |
Engineering Support Core @ Boston University (Charles River Campus)
Since the first of the current Hearing Research Center (HRC) laboratories was set up over 30 years ago, computers and associated instrumentation have been integral part of the way we do research. Both our physiological and psychophysical experiments are highly automated as is much of our data analysis. Most of our research involves the intensive use of computational models and the quantity of data generated by both experiments and simulations is accumulating at an ever increasing rate. Over the years we have also increased our translational research efforts and several of our faculty are now involved in developing technologies to aid patients with a variety of sensory and motor problems. The HRC is now well beyond the point where our faculty and students can effectively handle all of the necessary computer system administration, programming tasks, and equipment design and maintenance that is needed to support our research. The HRC Engineering Core was established 10 years ago to provide technical support to the center's scientific staff in order to improve research productivity, encourage innovative research, and support collaboration between laboratories. The Engineering Core is currently staffed by three very experienced full-time engineers with a wide range of skills in software and hardware engineering who provide a level of expertise and range of engineering skills that would be impossible for an individual research grant to support.
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2011 — 2013 |
Mountain, David C. |
R90Activity Code Description: To support comprehensive interdisciplinary research training programs at the undergraduate, predoctoral and/or postdoctoral levels, by capitalizing on the infrastructure of existing multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research programs. This Activity Code is for trainees who do not meet the qualifications for NRSA authority. |
Training in Computational Neuroscience: Integrating Experiment, Theory and Techn @ Boston University (Charles River Campus)
This proposal seeks 5 years of NIH support to establish a campus-wide training program in which young scientists, mathematicians, and engineers interested in computational neuroscience will be trained in both theoretical and experimental neuroscience. In addition, they will learn how to "translate" their research ideas from the laboratory to the clinic. This proposal consists ofthe two required components in RFA-DA-11-005. This first is a R90 component that will fund six full-time undergraduate research trainees give them a combination of coursework and hands-on laboratory research experience. The R90 will also fund two predoctoral students. The second component is a full-time Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) institutional predoctoral training program (T90) that will fund 4 predoctoral students. The goal of this proposal is to create a unique training experience in computational neuroscience in which young scientists, mathematicians, and engineers interested in computational neuroscience will be trained in both theoretical and experimental approaches to studying the brain. In addition, they will learn how to "translate" their research ideas from the laboratory to the clinic. The program will integrate fundamental knowledge, interdisciplinary thinking, and translational skills to solve challenges in the neurosciences, as well as promote a strong community of faculty and students with similar interests.
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2011 — 2013 |
Mountain, David C. |
T90Activity Code Description: To support comprehensive interdisciplinary research training programs at the undergraduate, predoctoral and/or postdoctoral levels, by capitalizing on the infrastructure of existing multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research programs. |
Training in Computational Neuroscience: Integrating Experiment, Theory, and Techn @ Boston University (Charles River Campus)
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal seeks 5 years of NIH support to establish a campus-wide training program in which young scientists, mathematicians, and engineers interested in computational neuroscience will be trained in both theoretical and experimental neuroscience. In addition, they will learn how to translate their research ideas from the laboratory to the clinic. This proposal consists of the two required components in RFA-DA-11-005. This first is R90 components that will fund six full-time undergraduate research trainees give them a combination of coursework and hands-on laboratory research experience. The R90 will also fund two predoctoral students. The second component is a full-time Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) institutional predoctoral training program (T90) that will fund 4 predoctoral students. The goal of this proposal is to create a unique training experience in computational neuroscience in which young scientists, mathematicians, and engineers interested in computational neuroscience will be trained in both theoretical and experimental approaches to studying the brain. In addition, they will learn how to translate their research ideas from the laboratory to the clinic. The program will integrate fundamental knowledge, interdisciplinary thinking, and translational skills to solve challenges in the neurosciences, as well as promote a strong community of faculty and students with similar interests. Specific Objectives - Undergraduate Training Program 1. Provide students majoring in the biological sciences with a strong background in the application of mathematical and engineering concepts to neuroscience 2. Provide three of the most accomplished students per year with a 21-month research experience that integrates theoretical and empirical approaches 3. Expose students to the diversity of research careers in computational neuroscience Specific Objectives - Graduate Training Program 4. Provide strong training in experimental neuroscience to students with engineering and mathematics degrees 5. Provide three of the most accomplished students per year with a 24-month fellowship to develop research projects integrating theoretical and empirical approaches 6. Provide career guidance and training in grant writing Specific Objectives - All Programs 7. Foster faculty and student networking across departments and colleges 8. Expose all students to the translational challenges in neuroscience 9. Encourage and provide support for all trainees to attend local and national conferences and workshops
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