Melissa McGovern, Ph.D.

Meet the Researcher

McGovern received her doctorate in pharmacology and neuroscience from the Southern Illinois University. She is an assistant professor in the department of otolaryngology at the University of Pittsburgh, where she is a member of the Pittsburgh Hearing Research Center. A 2024 Emerging Research Grants scientist, she is the 2024 recipient of the Neil Segil Memorial Award in Hair Cell Regeneration, renewed for a second year in 2025.

Sensory hair cells in the inner ear detect auditory stimulation and convert it into a signal that the brain can interpret. Hair cells are susceptible to damage from loud noises and some medications. Our lab investigates how nonsensory cells are converted into sensory hair cells through genetic reprogramming.

This project will allow us to create a new model to target specific nonsensory cells within the inner ear to better understand how these cells can be converted into hair cells. We will also investigate whether the partial loss of a protein in nonsensory cells may improve their ability to be converted into sensory cells. This information will allow us to further explore possible therapeutic targets for hearing restoration in the mammalian model.

I have always been curious about the world around me. My mother loves to tell the story about how, as a child, I would survey my classmates to find out whether they preferred dogs or cats. I collected rocks that I found interesting in the woods and creeks around our home. Fossils were the most fascinating thing I’d ever seen, and I wanted to be an archaeologist when I grew up. I wanted to understand why things happen and why things exist the way that they do.

Growing up in a small rural community, I honestly thought that science was only performed by medical doctors in their spare time and that if you were a scientist you just taught science in school. In college I took a required research methods class for my psychology degree, and that’s when I realized I could make science a career.

I adore the act of making something with my hands. I have always loved creating functional and useful items. I I learned to sew as a child from my mom, and I made quilts before I went to college. I recently picked up sewing again to make clothes for myself and am learning to sew zippers for pants. I am crocheting an afghan and recently knit my first pair of socks, which has been incredibly relaxing.

I sew all my clothes on a sewing machine that is over 70 years old and have started collecting vintage machines. I just snagged a mid-1950s New Home sewing machine in its cabinet for $18 and it works! My goal is to one day own a small flock of sheep so I can collect wool, dye it, spin it into yarn, and then create fabric.

In the same way with my research, I want to get to the very beginning and most basic idea underlying how something works. I want to understand how cells in the ear work on a molecular and genetic level in the same way that I want to start at the beginning of creating a garment.

Melissa McGovern, Ph.D., is funded by donors to Hearing Health Foundation who designated their gifts for the most promising research. HHF sincerely thanks our community for supporting these projects that address the full range of hearing and balance science.

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The Research

University of Pittsburgh

Hair cell regeneration in the mature cochlea: investigating new models to reprogram cochlear epithelial cells into hair cells 

Sensory hair cells in the inner ear detect mechanical auditory stimulation and convert it into a signal that the brain can interpret. Hair cells are susceptible to damage from loud noises and some medications. Our lab investigates the ability of nonsensory cells in our inner ears to be able to regenerate lost hair cells. We regenerate cells in the ear by converting nonsensory cells into sensory cells through genetic reprogramming. Key hair cell-inducing program genes are expressed in non-hair cells and partially convert them into hair cells. There are multiple types of nonsensory cells in the inner ear and they are all important for different reasons. In addition, they are in different locations relative to the sensory hair cells. In order to better understand the ability of different groups of cells to restore hearing, we need to be able to isolate different populations of cells. The funded project will allow us to create a new model to target specific nonsensory cells within the inner ear to better understand how these cells can be converted into hair cells. By using this new model, we can specifically investigate cells near the sensory hair cells and understand how they can be reprogrammed. Our lab is also very interested in how the partial loss of genes in the inner ear can affect cellular identities. In addition to targeting specific cells in the ear, we will investigate whether the partial loss of a protein in nonsensory cells may improve their ability to be converted into sensory cells. This information will allow us to further explore possible therapeutic targets for hearing restoration.

Long-term goal: To use the new model we are creating to investigate hearing restoration in mammalian models by targeting specific cells in the ear. We aim to better understand what regulates the identities of nonsensory cells in order to better convert them into sensory cells.