Peter A. Santi, Ph.D.

Professor, Departments of Otolaryngology and Neuroscience Director, Cochlear Anatomy Laboratory

E-MAIL: [email protected]

Research Interests:

The overall goal of my laboratory is to minimize or prevent hearing loss by improving our understanding of the structure and function of the normal, impaired, and experimentally altered mammalian inner ear. We are developing the first Mouse Cochlea Database (MCD), which consists of 2D and 3D atlases, and a digital cytocochleogram which is an anatomical map to correlate hair cell damage with frequency-specific, hearing loss. The web page for the Mouse Cochlea Database project can be accessed at the following URL: http://mousecochlea.umn.edu/ We are also interested in the mechanisms of cochlear damage caused by acoustic overstimulation, ototoxic drug administration, Alport's syndrome, and Meniere's disease. The mouse serves as our animal model.

The Cochlear Anatomy Laboratory is located in the Lions Research Building. Our research methods include: immunohistochemistry, thin-sheet, laser optical tomography, confocal, light, transmission, and scanning electron microscopy.


Selected Publications:

(For a comprehensive list of recent publications, refer to PubMed, a service provided by the National Library of Medicine.)

  • Liu W, Löwenheim H, Santi PA, Glueckert R, Schrott-Fischer A, Rask-Andersen H. Expression of trans-membrane serine protease 3 (TMPRSS3) in the human organ of Corti. Cell Tissue Res. 2018 Feb 19;. 
  • Liu W, Edin F, Blom H, Magnusson P, Schrott-Fischer A, Glueckert R, Santi PA, Li H, Laurell G, Rask-Andersen H. Super-resolution structured illumination fluorescence microscopy of the lateral wall of the cochlea: the Connexin26/30 proteins are separately expressed in man. Cell Tissue Res. 2016;365(1):13-27.
  • Santi PA, Aldaya R, Brown A, Johnson S, Stromback T, Cureoglu S, Rask-Andersen H. Scanning electron microscopic examination of the extracellular matrix in the decellularized Mouse and human cochlea. J Assoc Res Otolaryngol. 2016;17(3):159-71.
  • Johnson SB, Cureoglu S, O'Malley JT, Santi PA. Comparison of traditional histology and TSLIM optical sectioning of human temporal bones. Otol Neurotol. 2014;35:1145-9.
  • Schmitz HM, Johnson SB, Santi PA. Kanamycin-furosemide ototoxicity in the mouse cochlea: a 3-dimensional analysis. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2014;150:666-72.
  • Santi PA, Johnson SB. Decellularized ear tissues as scaffolds for stem cell differentiation. J Assoc Res Otolaryngol. 2013;14:3-15.
  • Johnson SB, Schmitz HM, Santi PA. TSLIM imaging and a morphometric analysis of the mouse spiral ganglion. Hear Res. 2011;278:34-42.
  • Santi PA. Light sheet fluorescence microscopy: a review. J Histochem Cytochem. 2011;59:129-38.
Peter Santi