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Prof. Dr. Tobias Moser, Director of the Institute for Auditory Neuroscience at Göttingen University Medical Center (UMG), spokesperson for the Göttingen Cluster of Excellence “Multiscale Bioimaging: From Molecular Machines to Networks of Excitable Cells” (MBExC) and spokesperson for the Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 1690 “Disease Mechanisms and Functional Restoration of Sensory and Motor Systems” (left; photo: umg/frank stefan kimmel), and Dr. Han Chen, former research associate at the Institute of Auditory Neuroscience at UMG (right; photo: han chen).

Schematic representation of otoferlin with a ring-shaped arrangement of its individual C2 domains (shown in colour on the left and right) and one transmembrane domain (light blue) each, which anchors otoferlin in the synaptic vesicle (shown as a grey semicircle). Through the interaction of otoferlin with the cell membrane (grey area at the bottom of the image), the synaptic vesicle ‘docks’ onto the membrane and changes its structure (indicated by the coloured circles on the left and right at the bottom of the image). This process leads to the fusion of the two membranes (indicated by the white circles at the bottom centre of the image). Image: umg/alexey chizhik