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Jonathan Ashmore, Professor of Biophysics at University College London, is Section Head for Sensory Systems in the Neuroscience Faculty of F1000Prime.

In this interview, Professor Ashmore gives an overview of his work on the cellular mechanisms of hearing. In particular, Professor Ashmore’s lab is interested in how sound is amplified by the outer hair cells of the ear, the synapses that allow these signals to be transmitted to brain and the imaging techniques required to see these in action. Their research has led them towards “super-resolution imaging”, allowing them to visualise the functions of the microscopic ribbon synapse, around 20 of which are tethered to a single hair cell.

Many will know Professor Ashmore, or at least his work, from the famous footage of a hair cell ‘dancing’ to Bill Haley’s 1954 Rock Around the Clock. The video was filmed as part of the 1987 BBC programme ‘Ear We Go’. As well as an elegant demonstration of cell biology (I remember first seeing it as part of a lesson at school), it makes a scientifically important point by demonstrating that the volume stays constant as the cell moves, suggesting that a molecule was driving this mechanism. It would take until 2000 for this molecule, prestin, to be discovered.