Dr. Susan Shore

Susan E. Shore, Ph.D.

Professor Emerita, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
Professor Emerita, Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology

Biography

Dr. Susan Shore received her B.S. in speech pathology and audiology and her M.A. in hearing science from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. She then completed her Ph.D. in physiology at the Kresge Hearing Research Laboratory of the South, Louisiana State University Medical Center. Her postdoctoral fellowships included the University of Pittsburgh and here at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Areas of Interest

Over the past decade, the Shore Laboratory has studied the contributions of multisensory systems to auditory processing. In particular, the lab discovered that ‘touch-sensitive’ neurons in the brain, that receive input from the face and head, send neural projections to the auditory system. These projections terminate in the first stop in the brain, the cochlear nucleus, which receives input directly from the cochlea.  Our work has shown that these ‘somatosensory’ neurons can alter the cochlear nucleus response to sound. Most remarkably, after deafness, there is a strong enhancement in somatosensory influences on the cochlear nucleus, as if in compensation for the loss of input from the cochlea. An undesirable side effect of these somatosensory inputs, which are excitatory, is the development of tinnitus (ringing in the ear). The lab's past work demonstrated that in animals with tinnitus (tested behaviorally), the major change in the cochlear nucleus was an increase in excitation from the somatosensory system (see press release). Work extending these findings is now focused on synaptic plasticity as an underlying mechanism to explain the long-term nature of these changes. Ongoing work is laying the groundwork for treatments that include specific, patterned stimulation that may reverse the increased excitation that contributes to tinnitus (see 2018 press release).

Honors & Awards

  • Teaching Assistantship in Physiology, Department of Physiology, Louisiana State University Medical School
  • Masters Degree in Audiology, Cum Laude
  • Lydia Adams de Witt Award for Women in Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan
  • Research Faculty Achievement Award, University of Michigan
  • Collegiate Research Professorship Award, University of Michigan

Memberships in Professional Societies

  • Acoustical Society of America
  • Society for the Neurosciences
  • Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO)

Published Articles or Reviews

Dehmel S, Pradhan S, Koehler SC, Bledsoe S, and Shore SE. "Noise over-exposure alters long-term somatosensory-auditory processing in the dorsal cochlear nucleus - possible basis for tinnitus-related hyperactivity?" Journal of Neuroscience 32: 5, 1660-71, 2012 (Press Release: http://www.uofmhealth.org/news/tinnitus-kresge-0201).

Koehler SD and Shore SE. Stimulus-timing-dependent plasticity in dorsal cochlear nucleus is altered in tinnitus. Journal of Neuroscience, 33 (50):19647-56, 2013. Press release: http://www.uofmhealth.org/news/archive/201312/u-m-tinnitus-discovery-opens-door-possible-new-treatment

Wu C, Martel DT and Shore SE (2015). Transcutaneous induction of stimulus-timing-dependent plasticity in dorsal cochlear nucleus. Front. Syst. Neurosci. 9:116. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2015

Wu, C, Martel, DT, Shore, SE. Increased synchrony and bursting of dorsal cochlear nucleus fusiform cells correlate with tinnitus. Journal of Neuroscience: 36:6, 2068-73, 2016.

Stefanescu, S and Shore, S.E. Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors control baseline activity and Hebbian stimulus-timing dependent plasticity in fusiform cells of the dorsal cochlear nucleus. J. Neurophysiol:117 no. 3, 1229-1238 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00270.2016, 2016. Highlighted in J. Neurophysiology 3/28/17:
https://www.facebook.com/JournalofNeurophysiology/photos/a.312797488894767.1073741828.290827221091794/752072274967284/?type=3

Marks K*, Martel*, D, Wu* C , Basura GL, Leyzac K, Roberts L, Shore, SE. Targeted bimodal auditory-somatosensory stimulation desynchronizes dorsal cochlear nucleus circuitry to reduce tinnitus in guinea pigs and humans. Science Translational Medicine, January, 2018 3;10(422). pii: 10/422/eaal3175. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aal3175. ( *equal authorship).

(Coverage from this paper was widespread, some examples below:

http://michmed.org/e9dV0
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2675187
https://www.nature.com/articles/nrneurol.2016.12
http://www.newsweek.com/tinnitus-new-device-targets-brains-neurons-treat-ringing-ears-phantom-sounds-771327)
https://gizmodo.com/this-small-device-could-silence-the-maddening-symptoms-1821739320
https://www.newscientist.com/article/daily-blast-sound-electrical-pulses-may-tame-tinnitus/
https://www.acsh.org/news/2018/01/03/can-you-hear-me-now-perhaps-breakthrough-treating-tinnitus-12352

Heeringa, A. N., Wu, C., Shore, S. E. Multisensory Integration Enhances Temporal Coding in Ventral Cochlear Nucleus Bushy Cells. J Neurosci. 38, 11, 2832-2843, 2018

Shore, SE, Roberts LE and Langguth, B. Maladaptive plasticity in tinnitus - triggers, mechanisms and treatment.  Nature Reviews Neurology: 12, 3, 150-60, 2016.

Shore, SE.  Multisensory integration in the dorsal cochlear nucleus: Unit responses to acoustic and trigeminal ganglion stimulation. European Journal of Neuroscience. 21(12), 3334-3348, 2005.

Zhou J and Shore SE. Vesicular glutamate transporters 1 and 2 are differentially associated with auditory nerve and spinal trigeminal inputs to the cochlear nucleus. J. Comp. Neurol.  500:4, 777-787, 2007.  

Shore, S. Koehler, M. Oldakowski, L. F. Hughes and S. Syed.  Dorsal cochlear nucleus responses to somatosensory stimulation are enhanced after noise-induced hearing loss. European Journal of  Neuroscience 27:155-168, 2008. (see press release <http://www.med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/2008/tinnitus.htm>)  

Dehmel, S, Pradhan, S, Koehler, SC, Bledsoe S, and Shore, SE.  "Noise over-exposure alters long-term somatosensory-auditory processing in the dorsal cochlear nucleus - possible basis for tinnitus-related hyperactivity?" Journal of Neuroscience 32: 5, 1660-71, 2012  (Press Release: http://www.uofmhealth.org/news/tinnitus-kresge-0201).  

Zeng, C, Yang, Z, Shreve, L, BledsoeSC, ShoreSE.  Somatosensory Projections to Cochlear Nucleus are Upregulated after Long-term Unilateral Deafness.  Journal of Neuroscience,  32(45):15791–15801, 2012.

Koehler S and Shore SE. Stimulus-timing dependent plasticity in dorsal cochlear nucleus is altered in tinnitus. Journal of Neuroscience, 33 (50):19647-56, 2013. Press release: http://www.uofmhealth.org/news/archive/201312/u-m-tinnitus-discovery-opens-door-possible-new-treatment

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