2025 UKARFF Early-career Researchers talks: Dr Elisa Martelletti – Exploring the role of cochlear immune response in Acsl4 and Pex3 mutant mice with age-related progressive hearing loss
07/02/2025
Dr. Elisa Martelletti, funded by the RNID/Vivensa Foundation, is investigating the complex relationship between cochlear inflammation and hearing loss. Using two mouse models, Elisa is comparing the inflammatory response within the cochlea before and after the onset of hearing loss. Her preliminary findings reveal that cochlear inflammation is not merely a secondary consequence of hearing loss, but rather plays a pivotal role in its progression, offering new insights into potential therapeutic targets for age-related hearing loss.
Dr Elisa Martelletti, King’s College London, funded by RNID and Vivensa Foundation
Hearing loss can lead to depression, social isolation, and is one of the major factors in cognitive decline in older people. Yet there is no current treatment to delay or prevent hearing loss. Dr Elisa Martelletti is investigating what comes first, hearing loss or inflammation in the cochlea – the hearing organ inside the inner ear.
Using two mouse models, Elisa compared the inflammation response inside the cochlea before and after the onset of hearing loss. She looked at the shape and locations of macrophages, the quantity of cytokines and chemokines (pro-inflammatory markers) and identified and counted the different types of immune cells found in the cochlea.
Elisa has collected preliminary evidence that inflammation in the cochlea is not a secondary effect to hearing loss, but rather contributes to it. By understanding more about how inflammation works in the inner ear, Elisa hopes new targets can be identified for therapeutic drugs to delay, stop, or even reverse hearing loss.
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Meet the speakers
Dr Elisa Martelletti
Elisa received the RNID / Vivensa Foundation Fellowship in 2023 and currently holds the position of Research Fellow at King’s College London. She obtained her PhD while working with Prof. Karen Steel and continued as a postdoc, focusing on various projects related to the underlying mechanisms of age-related progressive hearing loss. As a Research Fellow, Elisa is investigating the crosstalk between the immune and cochlear auditory systems in age-related hearing loss.