Project Grant K99GM159065

This Project Grant award, with Federal Grant ID K99GM159065, is funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859). The award, totaling $107,838, was granted to Northwestern University to support research focused on "Reconstructing the Ancestral Neural Crest-Pluripotency Gene Regulatory Network."

The key objectives of this research project are to use comparative studies across three different organisms - a jawed vertebrate, a basal jawless vertebrate, and an invertebrate chordate - to gain a deeper understanding of the gene regulatory mechanisms that control the development and evolution of pluripotent stem cell populations, specifically neural crest cells and blastula stem cells. This research aims to provide novel insights into how these critical stem cell types arise during embryonic development and how disruptions to these processes can lead to congenital defects and cancers.

The award will support the principal investigator's mentored training plan during the K99 phase, which will enable the incorporation of a new model system (Ciona) and the development of expertise in single-cell "multi-omic" approaches and associated bioinformatics analysis. During the subsequent R00 phase, the investigator will leverage this new expertise to offer unprecedented single-cell resolution of the molecular, cellular, and developmental mechanisms underlying the formation and maintenance of these stem cell populations.