Jun Maruta, PhD

Dr. Jun Maruta conducts research on brain mechanisms for spatial orientation and balance with the purpose of better understanding and improving human health.

The sense of balance, or equilibrium, is mediated by the input to the brain from the skull-embedded motion sensors in the inner ear called the vestibular organs. In the brain, the vestibular input is combined with other inputs, such as vision and those from sensors in muscles and joints. The combined information is used to support vision and posture by controlling eye and body movements, as well as create an overall sense of body position and movement in space. Much of these operations are carried out through mechanisms of the brainstem and the cerebellum, and is involuntary. These reflexive mechanisms are normally highly efficient, but their disruptions result in imbalance, dizziness, vision problems, nausea, and concentration problems, which can have devastating consequences in daily life as experienced by patients of ataxia, motion sickness, mal de débarquement syndrome, and other illnesses.

Mount Sinai has played a leading role in stimulating patient care and scientific advancement through vestibular research. Dr. Maruta’s research will identify how the central brain mechanisms process information to produce behavioral consequences that support balance, as well as how these mechanisms can be maladapted to disrupt normal balance.