Temporal Bone Laboratory at Victor Goodhill Ear Center, University of California at Los Angeles

In 1966, Ruth Gussen, M.D., a board certified pathologist was recruited by Victor Goodhill, M.D. to direct the UCLA Temporal Bone Laboratory and to conduct histopathological studies. During the early years of the former National Temporal Bone Banks, UCLA was a chapter member under the direction of Paul H. Ward, M.D., Chief of the Division of Head and Neck Surgery. In recent years, the temporal bone laboratory was named the Victor Goodhill Ear Center, a clinical and research center created in honor of Dr. Goodhill, the first otologist at UCLA.

The UCLA Temporal Bone Laboratory houses more than 1000 specimens, many of which have been processed (approximately 400). Information regarding age, gender, race, clinical diagnosis, and histopathology is entered into a database format compatible with the Registry’s database. The UCLA Temporal Bone Laboratory contains specimens across a wide range of disease processes affecting the ear.

Under the guidance of Vicente Honrubia, M.D. as the Director of the Victor Goodhill Ear Center, the UCLA Temporal Bone Bank began undertaking the development of new techniques to study the human temporal bones, with many publications and presentations in both clinical and basic science meetings and journals. Under P. Ashley Wackym, M.D., the UCLA laboratory initiated studies using modern molecular biologic techniques, including polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and in situ hybridization in the human temporal bone.

Dr. Akira Ishiyama, MD

Under the current directorship of Akira Ishiyama, M.D., the UCLA Temporal Bone Bank has pioneered the application of unbiased stereological techniques to the human temporal bone, using both traditionally processed archival human temporal bones and microdissected specimens. Collaboration with Yong Tang, M.D., Ph.D., a neuroanatomist with expertise in unbiased stereology, has been instrumental in the development of modern, innovative protocols to quantify and identify pathological changes in the human temporal bone. For more than a decade, Ivan Lopez, Ph.D., Director of the Morphology Laboratory at the Victor Goodhill Center, has been developing protocols aimed at rapid-fixation and antigenic and morphological preservation, leading to the development of the modified microdissection technique which enabled the combined application of immunohistochemistry and unbiased stereology to quantify human vestibular nerve fiber number and diameter distribution.

Back row left to right: Dr. Robert Baloh, MD and Dr. Ivan Lopaz, PhD. Front row left to right: Kate Jacobson and Dr. Gail Ishiyama, MD

Robert W. Baloh, M.D. and Gail Ishiyama, M.D., a clinician-scientist from the Department of Neurology at UCLA, have been instrumental in the development of prospective, longitudinal clinicopathological correlations of temporal bone with audiovestibular function in aging and otopathological conditions, and the application of unbiased quantification of morphological changes in varied conditions. The UCLA Temporal Bone Bank continues to be active, with postdoctoral students and residents participating in ongoing research projects with strong support from Gerald S. Berke, M.D., Chief of the Division of Head and Neck Surgery.

Contact information:

Goodhill Ear Center Otopathology Laboratory
Division of Head and Neck Surgery
UCLA School of Medicine
3 1 24 Rehabilitation Center,
1000 Veteran Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90024

Director: Akira Ishiyama, M.D.
Email: ishiyama@ucla.edu
Phone 310 206 2041 voice mail
Fax 310 794 5089

Investigator:
Ivan Lopez, Ph.D.
Email: ivan@hnsurg.medsch.ucla.edu