Get to know the people behind the research.

AMANDA MARIE LAUER, PH.D.

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

I am a native of York County, Pennsylvania, home of rolling hills, hearty PA Dutch cuisine, and Harley Davidson motorcycles. I attended college at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, where I received my B.S. and M.S. in Psychology/Biopsychology. Instead of answering the call from friends with lucrative pharma jobs in the Philly area, I opted to become a poor graduate student in Bob Dooling’s Laboratory of Comparative Psychoacoustics at the University of Maryland.

There I studied perceptual hearing deficits in canaries with a hereditary hearing loss and had the opportunity to learn about all manner of creatures—bugs, birds, bats, reptiles.

I received my Ph.D. in Psychology/Integrative Neuroscience in 2006 and moved to Johns Hopkins Otolaryngology to redirect my skills to study the mammalian auditory system. I completed postdoctoral fellowships with Drs. Brad May and David Ryugo. I became an Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology at Hopkins in July 2013 and Associate Professor in 2019. In 2024, I became the Vice Director for Academic Affairs in Otolaryngology. I have secondary appointments in the departments of Neuroscience and Functional Anatomy & Evolution. I also serve as the co-director for a Research Training Program in Otolaryngology for residents and medical students, a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, and as a mentor in several research training programs for students from historically marginalized backgrounds.

In my spare time, I enjoy gardening, walking, reading, and volunteering for environmental efforts in my community. I love to travel especially to small towns, and sampling local delicacies wherever I am is a favorite activity. Interesting snacks often make their way to the lab from my excursions!

Photo credit: Sandra Cryder

Catherine (Connelly) Graham, Ph.D.

Senior Research Scientist

I began my career in auditory research as an undergraduate in the Department of Otolaryngology at Johns Hopkins under Dr. David Ryugo. I went on to complete my Ph.D. with Dr. Ryugo in Sydney, Australia, where I studied the effect of hearing loss on auditory nerve morphology. I followed with a postdoc tenure in Austin, Texas with Dr. Nace Golding. There I utilized optogenetics to explore in vivo and in vitro physiologic properties of a virally targeted cell population in the auditory midbrain and thalamus. I return to the Hopkins hearing research community as senior staff, with interests in the neurobiology of auditory circuits and associated pathologies. I facilitate workflow on a human temporal bone histopathology and transcriptomics project and provide support for clinical research fellows through our departmental training program.

Sergio vicencio-jimenez, PH.D

postdoctoral fellow

My work at the lab primarily focuses on two lines of research: First, I am interested in understanding how sensorimotor interactions contribute to auditory perception. Specifically, I am interested in investigating the role of the efferent auditory system in auditory perception. Along with this, I am also interested in understanding how the auditory system (especially the efferent) is altered during aging and how these alterations impact our hearing and cognition.

Grace Capshaw, PH.D

Postdoctoral fellow

I’m working on a project bridging the research interests of the Lauer lab in the School of Medicine and the Moss lab in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. My current focus is on auditory specializations for resistance to noise and age-related hearing loss. I am a comparative biologist at heart, and am interested in studying hearing mechanisms in diverse species to better understand the evolutionary history of the vertebrate auditory system.

YASSINE BALHI, MD.

Post Doctoral Fellow

I am an Otolaryngologist trained in Algeria. I joined the Lauer Lab to gain research experience. I am currently working on the temporal bone histopathology project. During my time here, I developed a true passion for examining Otopathology slides from the extensive temporal bone collection at Johns Hopkins Hospital, especially for pathologies related to otic capsule involvement, which has undoubtedly changed my perspective on otology. We are also working on developing new protocols and techniques to advance the field of otopathology.

Eleftheria Slika, MD

Post Doctoral Fellow

I am studying an animal model of gene therapy to strengthen the efferent feedback to the cochlea to prevent noise-induced hearing loss. I am interested in the potential of AAV vectors for administering therapeutic agents directly into the cochlea and the role of cochlear efferent innervation for inner ear homeostasis and damage prevention. I am also working on the creation of a database of an archival human temporal bone collection and on qualitative and quantitative studies of temporal bone specimens and cochlear tissue.

Nick Andresen, MD

Resident

I am a T32 resident in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery. My current work is focused on anatomic changes to the mouse and human cochlea in age-related hearing loss.

Srijita Paul

Masters student

I am a Masters student at JHU Advanced Academic Programs, studying Biotechnology. In the Lauer lab, I help with several projects related to various neuronal or pathological conditions such as Alzheimer's disease. I primarily analyze auditory brainstem responses, and process and stain mouse brain tissue to find an association between hearing and the brain regions involved in the auditory pathway. 

Lab Alumni

Post doctoral Fellows

KALI BURKE, PH.D

Katrina Schrode (Data Analyst at Charles Drew University)

Yehyun Kim

Laurel Screven

Research Specialist

Madison Weinberg

Research Techs

Gail Larkin (now in the Immunogenetics lab at Hopkins)

Aikeen Jones (now at NIH)

Brian McGuire (now an independent business owner)

Hamad Javaid (MPH Student at George Washingtion University)

James Engel Jr (Research Specialist at University at Buffalo in the Xu-Friedman Lab)

Abhijit Roy

Omobolade Odedoyi

Ryan Reigel

Gregory McCarty

Med Students

Jordan Swift (UK, visiting student in 2014)

Prashant Singh (India, visiting student in 2016)

LiYang Tang (JHU SOM class of 2017, now ENT resident at USC)

Adrian Jimenez (JHU Undergraduate class of 2019, JHU SOM Class of 2024)

Dillan Villavisanis

Undergrads

Alice Li

Zandy Wong

Madhusudan Duwadi

Bohan Zhang

Amaan Siddiqui

Tanvi Kosuri

Sean Oddoye

Elennyel Correa (JHU scholar, neuroscience program)

Nazrawit Retta (JHU Undergraduate class of 2019, now with Teach for America)

Naasir Albright (Stevenson U class of 2019)

Lydia Gutema (JHU class of 2019)

Mark Scotto Di Vetta (JHU class of 2018)

Amy Schettino (Provost's Undergraduate Research Award winner, now at Yale SOM)

Ioan Lina (now a resident at JHU SOM Dept. of Otolaryngology)

Heather Graham (now a graphic designer at Indigo Ink; http://www.heatherjanegraham.com)

Phani Ghaddipati (JHU class of 2016; 2014 Google app contest winner)

Seal Bin Han (Provost's Undergraduate Research Award winner, JHU class of 2017)

Aditi Trevedi (JHU class of 2016)

Surekha Mullangi (JHU class of 2016)

William Yu (JHU class of 2014)

Nicholas Bell (JHU class of 2016)

Antonio Spina (JHU class of 2016)

Jessica Stuyvenberg (JHU class of 2011)

Judy Park (JHU class of 2011)

Alice May (now at Barnard University)

Garrett Brown

Lauren Brewster

Sabrina Rainsbury

Sarah Coreas

Ryleigh Board

Talia Feingold

High School Students

Precious Conteh

Sophie Thrippleton (UK)

 2015 (from left: Kat Schrode, AJ Jones, Brian McGuire, Gail Larkin)