Presentation description

Cytomegalovirus is one of the leading causes of childhood deafness in the United States of America. Up to 15-20% of Sensorineural hearing loss in kids is caused by this virus. Despite this, it is still unknown by what mechanism Cytomegalovirus causes hearing loss. Previous research on the cytomegalovirus has postulated that hearing loss is caused by damaging the spiral ganglion within the cochlea. However, little was known about the infectivity of the virus, and which cells it infects most effectively. To rectify this we tested the contagious potential of the Cytomegalovirus on Ai9 Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts. We had two trials of varying viral concentrations to determine which concentration is most infectious. We used the viral strain CMV/Cre which causes fluorescence in infected cells via the expression of Cyan Flouroscent Protien and TdTomato. We observed that in both trial groups florouscense was present 6 days after viral inoculation. This study shows that the virus is effective at infecting Fibroblasts, and future studies can determine CMV/Cre's virulence with other cell lines.