Fellow

Prof. Guy Richardson FRS is distinguished by his original contributions to the cellular biology of hearing. He discovered the tectorins, novel proteins uniquely associated with the tectorial membrane of the inner ear. Mutations in one of the tectorin genes cause human hearing loss. By developing transgenic models with deleted and mutated tectorins, he and his colleagues have provided unique insights to how the mammalian cochlea functions. He further identified two major link proteins required for development of the mechanosensory bundle in the cochlea and was the first to discover protocadherin15 as a component of the elusive mechanotransduction machinery in vertebrate hair cells.