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Associate Professor Yiwen Zheng's research is focused on the vestibular (balance) and auditory (hearing) systems, the balance system of the inner ear. She is investigating the mechanisms of tinnitus (ringing in the ear) and how the vestibular system contributes to spatial learning and memory, particularly the interaction between vestibular system and the hippocampus, an area of the brain that is important for learning and memory. Associate Professor Zheng is also interested in anxiety related behaviours following peripheral vestibular damage.

Associate Professor Zheng uses a range of biochemical and electrophysiological techniques to study the underlying mechanisms of tinnitus and her lab is testing potentially effective drug treatments using animal models of tinnitus. Her vestibular research uses a combination of electrophysiological, neurochemical and behavioural approaches and is systematically investigating and illuminating the contribution that the vestibular system makes to spatial learning and memory.


Find out more about Associate Professor Yiwen Zheng's research

Publications

He, J., Zhu, Y., Aa, J., Smith, P. F., De Ridder, D., Wang, G., & Zheng, Y. (2017). Brain metabolic changes in rats following acoustic trauma. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 11, 148. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2017.00148 Journal - Research Article

Zheng, Y., Gliddon, C. M., Aitken, P., Stiles, L., Machado, M.-L., Philoxene, B., … Smith, P. F., & Besnard, S. (2017). Effects of acute altered gravity during parabolic flight and/or vestibular loss on cell proliferation in the rat dentate gyrus. Neuroscience Letters, 654, 120-124. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2017.06.033 Journal - Research Article

Aitken, P., Zheng, Y., & Smith, P. F. (2018). The modulation of hippocampal theta rhythm by the vestibular system. Journal of Neurophysiology, 119(2), 548-562. doi: 10.1152/jn.00548.2017 Journal - Research Article

Balabhadrapatruni, S., Zheng, Y., Napper, R., & Smith, P. F. (2016). Basal dendritic length is reduced in the rat hippocampus following bilateral vestibular deafferentation. Neurobiology of Learning & Memory, 131, 56-60. doi: 10.1016/j.nlm.2016.03.009 Journal - Research Article

Smith, P. F., & Zheng, Y. (2016). Cannabinoids, cannabinoid receptors and tinnitus. Hearing Research, 332, 210-216. doi: 10.1016/j.heares.2015.09.014 Journal - Research Article

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