Eri Hashino, Ph.D. is the Ruth C. Holton Professor and the Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine. She also serves as the Founding Director of the 3D Stem Cell Biology Research Group. Dr. Hashino’s laboratory recently established a novel 3D stem cell culture system to recapitulate embryonic inner ear development in vitro from human pluripotent stem cells. Using this model system along with genome editing technology and single-cell genomics, she and her colleagues are studying how subpopulations of human otic progenitors give rise to different sensory cell types during normal inner ear development and, using this knowledge, elucidating the mechanisms responsible for abnormal development of the inner ear in individuals with genetic mutations. Her group is also interested in identifying chemical compounds with the potential of promoting hair cell regeneration in the human inner ear. She is a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD).