My broad research interests are in the area of sensory system development and regeneration. My research currently involves the mammalian inner ear. More specifically I am interested in the signals that allow the sensory patches to develop and to differentiate into support cells and hair cells. I am also interested in what prevents the hair cells from regenerating after damage in mammals, as they do in birds and lower vertebrates. Most of my work in the inner ear involves the roles of Notch and FGF in the development of the sensory patches.