Barbara Vona

Dr. Barbara Vona is a researcher at the Institute for Auditory Neuroscience and InnerEarLab of the University Medical Center Göttingen. Her work focuses on advancing the understanding of the molecular physiology of the auditory system through genomics, aiming to identify new human hearing loss genes and characterize variants in known genes using exome and genome sequencing data from undiagnosed families. Collaborative efforts with the Department for Otolaryngology are central to her translational research.

Her research interests include:

• Genomics of hereditary hearing disorders
• Gene discovery in autosomal recessive and dominant hearing impairment
• Genotype-phenotype correlations
• Re-analysis of unresolved sequencing datasets
• Characterization of splice variants
• Impact of genetic variation on cochlear implant outcomes

The group utilizes rodents and in vitro cell models to unravel functional impacts of genetic variants. Collaborative projects span global family studies and local clinical care at the University Medical Center Göttingen.