Anders Fridberger

Deputy Dean, Professor

Inner ear sensory cells are amazing little creatures that respond to movements of less than a billionth of a meter. In my research, I try to understand how this is possible and we are also trying to find new ways to treat and prevent hearing loss.

Looking into the beauty of hearing

Nature's technology to hear is beautiful, ingenious and fascinating

The sensory cells in the ear are amazing creatures capable of detecting sound-evoked motions smaller than a billionth of a meter.

I am a researcher working to understand how this is possible, and trying to find ways of combating hearing loss.

As a medical student, I started a research project in the lab of Åke Flock and Mats Ulfendahl at Karolinska Institutet. When seeing the organ of Corti through an operating microscope, I was struck by the beauty of the almost perfect spiral of glittering Hensen cells and sensory cells, and wanted to know more about their function. The inner ear continues to fascinate me and I still want to know how it works.

News

New research throws doubt on old ideas of how hearing works

The way in which we experience music and speech differs from what has until now been believed. The new findings have been published in Science Advances, and may make it possible to design better cochlear implants.

Research results challenge a decades-old mechanism of how we hear sounds

Researchers have made several discoveries on the functioning mechanisms of the inner hair cells of the ear, which convert sounds into nerve signals. The results challenge the current picture of the hearing organ, which has prevailed for decades.

Why you lose hearing for a while after listening to loud sounds

When we listen to loud sounds, our hearing may be impaired for a short time. Researchers at LiU have discovered a mechanism that helps to explain how this happens.

Publications

Selected Publications

Pierre Hakizimana, Anders Fridberger (2021)

Inner hair cell stereocilia are embedded in the tectorial membrane

Nature Communications , Vol.12 Continue to DOI

Clark Elliott Strimbu, Sonal Prasad, Pierre Hakizimana, Anders Fridberger (2019)

Control of hearing sensitivity by tectorial membrane calcium

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America , Vol.116 , s.5756-5764 Continue to DOI

Alfred L. Nuttall, Anthony J. Ricci, George Burwood, James M. Harte, Stefan Stenfelt, Per Caye-Thomasen, Tianying Ren, Sripriya Ramamoorthy, Yuan Zhang, Teresa Wilson, Thomas Lunner, Brian C. J. Moore, Anders Fridberger (2018)

A mechanoelectrical mechanism for detection of sound envelopes in the hearing organ

Nature Communications , Vol.9 Continue to DOI

Publications in DiVA

2024

George W. S. Burwood, Tianying Ren, Alfred L. Nuttall, Anders Fridberger (2024) On the phase consistency of apical organ of Corti vibrations Hearing Research, Vol. 454, Article 109137 (Article in journal)

Continue to DOI

About me

CV

2013 --
Professor, Linköping University
2010--2013
Senior lecturer, Karolinska Institutet
2006
Associate professor, Karolinska Institutet

Other assignments

Deputy Dean at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (MEDFAK)
Main supervisor of one doctoral student, and co-supervisor of one
Two postdocs in the research group
Member of the Strategic Research Area for Systems Neurobiology, LiU

Teaching

Medical students
Master's programme in Biomedicine

Awards/Prices

Visiting Professor at the Department of Otolaryngolgoy/Head and Neck surgery, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
Read more at Oregon Hearing Research Center

Research

Auditory neuroscience group

To study the function of these stereocilia, the research group has developed a new type of confocal microscope that makes it possible to directly observe sound-evoked motion.

Organisation

The Division of Cell and Neurobiology (CNB)

The Division of Cell and Neurobiology is a dynamic and innovative environment where we conduct research and teaching on both the structure and function of various cells as well as the nervous system and sensory organs.

Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences (BKV)

What characterizes the Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences (BKV) is the wide breadth of research and education. BKV is one of the largest departments at LiU with affiliation mainly to the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.