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The GCHSR benefits from a vast array of facilities associated with Member's laboratories and shared facilities. These include laboratories associated with Members from the Departments of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering (ChBME), Communication Sciences & Disorders (CSD), and the School of Aging Studies (SAS).

Collaborative Facilities

The GCHSR has a well-equipped conference room with attached kitchen/catering facility. The conference room includes Smartboard™ technology, dedicated PC, and conferencing technologies. It also serves as a listening laboratory for simulated conference room settings.

Our Mouse colony is administered by the Univ. of S. Florida Vivarium, and is supervised overall by Dr. Joseph Walton, Co-Director of the GCHSR and Director of the Animal Core of our Program Project Grant from NIA-NIH.  A noteworthy advantage is that our mouse colony is located in a custom, quiet room contained within our Global Center for Hearing & Speech Research.  This maximizes productivity and survival since animals do not have to be transported from different (Vivarium) buildings to and from our Center animal neuroengineering and neurobiology research laboratories.  The Institutional Official in charge of the University of South Florida Vivarium has appointed an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) and alternates which is responsible for oversight and evaluation of the animal care and use program, its procedures and facilities to ensure that they are consistent with the recommendations of the NIH Guide, AWA, PHS Policy, University Policy #0-308, and the IACUC Principles and Procedures, and are fully accredited by AAALAC.

Associated Laboratory Facilities

Auditory Cellular, Systems and Genetics Laboratory (ChBME, CSD)
Auditory Behavioral Laboratory (CSD, ChBME, SAS)
Auditory Molecular Neuroengineering Laboratory (ChBME, CSD)
Auditory Neurophysiology Laboratory (CSD, ChBME, SAS)
Auditory & Speech Science Laboratory (CSD & ChBME)

Laboratory

Overview: Dr. Robert D. Frisina serves as Director of the Global Center for Hearing & Speech Research (GCHSR), which has 8,500 sq ft of laboratory and office research workspace within the University of S. Florida newly-built Research Park. Due to private and institutional support, the laboratories are fully equipped, including a newly renovated animal lab that is certified for molecular biology, neurophysiology/otoacoustic emissions and anatomy/histology complex. The Center includes 4 operational neurophysiology sound-proof booth setups for animal research, a small animal surgery area, electrode fabrication setup, a neuroimaging suite and additional office/conference/break room support area. For example, rodent otoacoustic emissions, auditory brainstem responses (ABRs), genomics work, are in Dr. Frisina's areas of these new labs. Otoacoustic emissions and ABRs are recorded using a TDT System III hardware with BioSig, SigGen and RPVDS software capabilities as described in previous publications.

Clinical

Dr. David Eddins, Co-Director of the Global Center for Hearing & Speech Research directs the human subject Audiological Research Laboratory Division which includes test suites for 5 large soundproof booths and accompanying equipment to carry out virtually any type of human hearing testing (earphone, headphone, and free-field) and hearing aid or cochlear implant development and testing procedures.

Animal

Our Mouse colony is administered by the Univ. of S. Florida Vivarium, and is supervised overall by Dr. Joseph Walton, Co-Director of the GCHSR and Director of the Animal Core of our Program Project Grant from NIA-NIH. A noteworthy advantage is that our mouse colony is located in a custom, quiet room contained within our Global Center for Hearing & Speech Research. This maximizes productivity and survival since animals do not have to be transported from different (Vivarium) buildings to and from our Center animal neuroengineering and neurobiology research laboratories. The Institutional Official in charge of the University of South Florida Vivarium has appointed an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) and alternates which is responsible for oversight and evaluation of the animal care and use program, its procedures and facilities to ensure that they are consistent with the recommendations of the NIH Guide, AWA, PHS Policy, University Policy #0-308, and the IACUC Principles and Procedures, and are fully accredited by AAALAC.

Computer

Twelve PCs and a MacBook Pro are currently utilized by Dr. Frisina's Auditory Neuroengineering Research Group, with each faculty and staff member having their own personal desktop or laptop. One laptop is available for travel use, and for Power Point presentations in our Center Conference Room, equipped with a SmartBoard for interactive presentations and video conferencing. All computers are linked to each other and to the internet via hookups and wireless routers to the Univ. of S. Florida Ethernet system, and thus have access to e-mail and the worldwide web. Microsoft compatible software packages are running including Microsoft Office (Excel, Power Point, Outlook, and Word), Kodak Image, Adobe PhotoShop and Acrobat, Systat, Sigma Plot, Prism (GraphPad) and a latest-release Metamorph Imaging System for digital image acquisition and semi-automated cell counting/characterization in our Microscopy Imaging Suite.

Office

Dr. Frisina has two private offices, one in the Chemical & Biomedical Engineering Department and one in the Global Center for Hearing & Speech Research. In the Center lab complex, private offices are available for all senior research staff members and Research Associates, and desk areas are available in the labs for all students and post-docs.

Other

The Global Center for Hearing & Speech Research also has a Research Conference Room/Kitchen. Dr. Frisina's joint appointments in the Departments of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering and Communication Sciences & Disorders give him good access to additional shop facilities and photo/graphics services, featuring reasonable rates and response times. In addition, Dr. Frisina has collaborated with Dr. Bernd Sokolowski in the Univ. of S. Florida Medical School, which maintains several core research facilities with full-time technical assistance.

Shared Laboratory Facilities with Dr. Walton include an aseptic surgical room with a full complement of required surgical instruments. A work area for electronic repair and electrode fabrication equipped with Sachs-Flaming Microprocessor-Controlled Puller, one Kopf 701 vertical pipette puller modified for pulling multi-barrel iontophoresis electrodes, small custom microforge, WPI Electrometer, rotary fluid beveler, Wild stereomicroscope, Leitz compound microscope, Midgard High-Compliance Constant current source, B&K 1/2" condenser microphone with preamplifier, etc. In addition, the animal behavior lab is now fully functional, e.g. for startle inhibition experiments.

Major Equipment

Neuroanatomy/Immunocytochemistry Lab: Microprocessor-controlled cryostat, 4-foot fume hood, Olympus Dual Binocular Dissecting Scope with fiber-optic light, pH meter, built-in glassware washer, perfusion pump, and assortment of necessary stirrers, orbital shaker, digital balance, hotplates, thermometers, dissecting instruments, etc.

Neuroimaging Suite: Leica DMR Research Microscope interfaced to a PC controlled digital image processing system currently running the latest release of Metamorph software for automated cell measuring and counting. The Leica has a full complement of plan apochromat objectives, including 100x oil and 60x air, bright phase, dark phase, differential interference contrast and fluorescent image acquisition, 4 light sources (visible + UV cubes-3), and most of its features can be controlled via the Metamorph imaging software. For example, slide location in all 3 planes is under computer control (X, Y with external control drives and Z via the scope itself). System settings are maintained with an uninterruptible power supply. PC systems include color printers, and Canon digital camera with image storage disk interface.

Newly-renovated Molecular Biology/Physiology/Anatomy Lab: Inverted Olympus and Nikon microscopes for tissue culture, 3 Incubators, immunocytochemistry setups; and processing of samples for plastic embedding or cryo-sectioning; microwave oven. Tucker-Davis auditory neurophysiology setup; double-walled sound-proof chamber; Burleigh-Inchworm Piezoelectric Microdrive/lateral stability; Tektronix and Hitachi oscilloscopes; custom-designed rodent headholders; Cutec Equalizer; Neurophore BH-2 Multi-barrel Electrode Drug Delivery System; servo heating blanket; WPI microelectrode amp; B&K Measuring Amp & Mikes; OR lamp; surgical instruments, fume hood.

Neurophysiology Setups: Tucker-Davis III auditory physiology setups for two double-walled sound-proof chambers, and a Tucker-Davis III noise damage setup and booth.

Dr. Bo Ding is an investigator in the Global Center for Hearing & Speech Research (GCHSR), which has 6,000 sq ft of multidisciplinary laboratory and office research workspace within the University of S. Florida newly-built Research Park. Due to private and institutional support, the laboratories are fully equipped, including Dr. Ding's lab (650 sq ft), a newly renovated molecular biology and proteomics lab.

Animal

Shared: As described in detail above, our Mouse colony is administered by the Univ. of S. Florida Vivarium, and is supervised overall by Dr. Joseph Walton, Co-Director of the GCHSR and Director of the Animal Core of our Program Project Grant from NIA-NIH.

Computer

Four PCs and a MacBook Pro are currently utilized by Dr. Ding's Auditory Molecular Biology lab, with each faculty and staff member having their own personal desktop or laptop. Shared computer resources are described above, including one laptop which is available for travel use, and for Power Point presentations in our Center Conference Room, equipped with a SmartBoard for interactive presentations and video conferencing.

Office

Dr. Ding has a private office in the Global Center for Hearing & Speech Research. In the Center lab complex, private offices are available for all senior research staff members and Research Associates, and desk areas are available in the labs for all students and post-docs.

Major Equipment

Molecular Biology & Proteomics Lab: -80 Freezer; Liquid Nitrogen bio-storage; lab refrigerators; 6 ft Biosafety Cabinet-Level II; ELISA system; RT-PCR; DI and distilled water system; Centrifuges for genotyping, Inverted Olympus and Nikon microscopes for tissue culture (shared with Dr. Frisina), 3 Incubators, Proteomics: Western blot, tissue harvesting, small animal blood pressure measurement system, distilled and deionized water filtration systems, micropipette sets, and access to HPLC, electrode fabrication, rodent behavior and electron microscopy Core facilities and labs.

Shared Laboratory Facilities with Dr. Walton include an aseptic surgical setup with a full complement of required surgical instruments. A work area with a small custom microforge, rotary fluid beveler, Wild stereomicroscope, Leitz compound microscope. In addition, the animal behavior lab is now fully functional, e.g. for startle inhibition experiments.

Neurophysiology

The Auditory Neural Engineering lab conducts basic and applied research that focuses on neural processing mechanisms in the central auditory nervous system in normal and impaired states. We do so by using single and multi-channel neurophysiology to study the neural coding of complex sounds from large numbers of nerve cells. Then we use tract-tracing and immunohistochemical methods to study neural connections. The implementation of multichannel recording and drug-delivery electrodes expedites our studies and allows for comparison to behavioral results acquired from the same animal subjects. Until recently, most of our knowledge of how central auditory nerve cells encode various temporal sound features was based on sequential recordings taken over many recording sessions, and using many animals. Multichannel silicon microtechnology allows us to simultaneously sample extracellular activity from up to 32 channels in awake –tranquilized mice. Our neurophysiology lab is based on the Tucker –Davis Technology (TDT) platform, which offers a number of versatile, user-programmable DSP-based systems for real-time stimulus generation and data acquisition, featuring the System III line of real-time processors. Recordings take place in a 10ft double-walled Tracoustics sound booth. The software is accessed via a Matlab user interface, which is GUI based, and allows for acquisition of excitatory and inhibitory receptive fields, rate-intensity functions using simple and complex stimuli, gap-in-noise paradigm, sinusoidal amplitude modulation, and spectrotemporal receptive fields. An aseptic surgery area comprising 250 sq ft is located within the lab and includes a custom stereotaxic apparatus, and operating microscope.

Evoked Potential and Near-Field Electrophysiology

Early and late auditory, and visual evoked potentials, and otoacoustic emissions are performed in a Tracoustics single wall sound booth using TDT hardware and BioSig EP collection software (TDT, Inc.). Both free-field and closed field ABRs and DPOAE data are analyzed using Matlab custom software. In a third sound booth we are able to expose animals to various types of enriched acoustic environments or to noise.

Animal Behavior

In a separate lab room, four startle response chambers, consisting of a Plexiglas platform placed under a speaker mounted to the ceiling, allows for acquisition of the acoustic startle response (ASR). We use pre-pulse inhibition to modulate the ASR through TDT System III hardware and Matlab software. The behavioral component brings a powerful tool that allows for comparison of neurophysiology results to behavioral results obtained in the same subject.

Other

Shared Laboratory Facilities with Dr. Frisina include an aseptic surgical room with a full complement of required surgical instruments.  A work area for electronic repair and electrode fabrication equipped with Sachs-Flaming Microprocessor-Controlled Puller, one Kopf 701 vertical pipette puller modified for pulling multi-barrel iontophoresis electrodes, small custom microforge, WPI Electrometer, rotary fluid beveler, Wild stereomicroscope, Leitz compound microscope, Midgard High-Compliance Constant current source, B&K 1/2" condenser microphone with preamplifier, etc. In addition, the animal behavior lab is now fully functional, e.g. for startle inhibition experiments.

The Auditory & Speech Science Laboratory at the University of South Florida is co-directed by Drs. David A. Eddins and Ann Clock Eddins. The facility consists of two spaces. One ~1500 square feet facility is in Suite 210 Business Partnership Building adjacent to the Auditory Neurophysiology, Auditory Behavioral, and Auditory Molecular & Genetic Laboratories. The second ~700 square foot facility is adjacent to the Audiology Clinic within the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders. Each has access to comfortable particpatn waiting areas, participant counseling areas, and workstations. Together they house five sound attenuating booths, three of which are set up for sound field measurements with arrays of 3 to 8 loudspeakers.

Auditory & Speech Perception Research: The laboratory includes seven listening stations in five sound booths and each research station is equipped with sound generation equipment (seven Tucker-Davis Technology (TDT) hardware/software systems; a variety of headphones (Etymotic ER-1, ER-2, and ER-3A insert phones; TDH 50P supra-aural earphones; Sennheiser HDA-200; HD-265; HD-250 circumaural headphones; Behringer Truth B2010 and an assortment of other loudspeakers). Each system has multiple human subject interfaces (touchscreen monitors, button response boxes, PC keyboards and PC mice). The laboratory has extensive custom and commercial software for experimental design and execution including TDT SykofizX and a series of custom interfaces designed in Matlab.

Auditory Electrophysiology Research: Both facilities house equipment for multi-channel auditory evoked/event-related potential recordings and corresponding brain mapping software including 4 and 16 channel systems from Tucker-Davis Technologies (TDT) and a 64-channel system by Advanced Neuro Technology (ANT).

Diagnostic & Research Audiology: Both facilities house complete audiometric equipment, including audiometers, middle ear analyzers, an otoacoustic emission systems, evoked potential systems, cerumen management equipment, and an array of speech audiometry materials.

Hearing Enhancement Device Research & Development: The facilities house a complete hearing aid dispensary for research including earmold impression and modification equipment, hearing aid fitting software, wireless instrument interfaces (e.g., Noah LinkTM and proprietary interfaces, hearing aid testing equipment (Audioscan Verifit).

Acoustic Analysis and Measurement: The facilities include a variety of equipment for acoustic signal measurement and analyses from leading manufacturers including (B&K, Quest, Larson-Davis, G.R.A.S., Fluke, Tektronix, B&K Instruments) including pressure and free-field microphones, calibrators, sound level meters, couplers, KEMAR acoustic manikin, probe-microphone systems (Etymotic ER-7Cs), and signal conditioners. The laboratory also has acoustic analysis software including EASETM, Adobe Audition, and custom Matlab analysis software.

Human Subject Productivity: The laboratory coordinates and co-sponsors a Hearing & Speech Screening subject pool that recruits participants for a variety of studies (via newspaper advertisement, flyers, posters) and evaluates potential subjects who are interested in participating in research projects. This is facilitated by custom-designed a HIPAA-compliant SQL recruitment and scheduling database.