Even though a fruit fly doesn’t have ears, it can hear with its antennae. In a new study published in the journal Development, USC Stem Cell scientists describe how adult flies can regenerate sensory hearing cells in their antennae, and how studying flies can provide a new way to understand and develop treatments for the hundreds of millions of patients worldwide who live with hearing and balance disorders.

“Flies provide a powerful way to study the biology of hearing and balance at cellular, circuitry and behavioral levels. We can quickly and inexpensively perform sophisticated experiments on large swarms of flies, and we already possess a detailed map of their genomes and neural circuitry,” said postdoctoral fellow Ismael Fernández-Hernández, who led the study, along with co-author Evan Marsh and corresponding author Michael Bonaguidi.

To read more, visit https://stemcell.keck.usc.edu/usc-stem-cell-scientists-start-a-buzz-around-fruit-flies-in-hearing-research.