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Qing Yin Zheng, M.D., leading researcher in genetic susceptibility for middle ear infections, joins School of Medicine

CLEVELAND (April 24, 2006) – A leading research scientist searching for genes underlying susceptibility to middle ear infections has joined the Hearing Research Program (HRP) in the Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery. Qing Yin Zheng, M.D., comes to the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals of Cleveland from the Jackson Laboratories in Bar Harbor, ME.

Middle ear infection, also known as otitis media (OM), accounts for more than 30 million clinical visits annually with a cost of $5 billion dollars per year in the United States. OM can cause hearing loss and, in turn, can cause developmental problems in children, including delayed language skills. Furthermore, the widespread use of oral antibiotics to treat OM has resulted in a dramatic increase in antibiotic-resistance of the bacterial strains causing OM, as well as other potentially fatal diseases including pneumonia, meningitis and septicemia. The molecular mechanisms by which bacteria cause overactive host responses are still unclear.

“Vaccine development still remains a great challenge,” said Kumar Alagramam, Ph.D., director of the HRP, assistant professor and director of research in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

Zheng is currently funded by a grant from National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop techniques for the diagnosis of OM in the mouse. Among the techniques is tympanometry, a test to detect the presence of fluid accumulation in the middle ear and usually associated with middle ear infection. Zheng has developed instrumentation, modified from the apparatus used for patients, to carry out tympanometry in mouse models. He has also developed video-otoscopy (video ear-scope) techniques for mice.

He recently was awarded a $1.1 million RO1 grant from the NIH to identify novel genes and/or novel functions of known genes that underlie OM susceptibility. This study will use the latest tools in transcriptome and proteome analysis (transcribed elements of the genome and proteins products of the genome, respectively).

Zheng said he was attracted to Case because of the opportunities for translational research. “The department is a well-known clinical department, which provides the unique environment to translate my basic research into clinical/patient-oriented research in order to find a better cure for otitis media and many other human ear diseases,” he said. “Many well-established investigators in the department and the medical school provide an opportunity for extensive collaborations. I have many well-established genetically engineered mouse models for human diseases and I am willing to share.”

The HRP focuses on high priority areas in the field in addition to OM, including molecular otology, noise-induced hearing loss, hair cell biology and stem cell based regeneration, auditory proteomics and microsensors. Investigators from various departments in the School of Medicine and School of Engineering are involved in its research projects, as well as with collaborators in the United States and abroad.

Zheng will be one of the presenters in the New Faculty Symposium on April 21 in the auditorium of the Wolstein Research Building, 2103 Cornell Road. For more information, see http://casemed.case.edu/registration/nfs/.

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