Project Grant R01DC021439
- This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), under the CFDA program "Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders" (93.173), provides $693,856 to The Regents of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to conduct research on the structure and function of coordinated neural activity in the auditory system. The key objectives of this 5-year research project are to: 1) Identify coordinated neural...
- This Project Grant award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) provides $387,500.00 to The Johns Hopkins University from January 1, 2025 to November 30, 2029 to elucidate the gene regulatory networks that control hair cell regeneration in zebrafish. The research aims to identify key transcription factors, such as SOX and SIX, that regulate the transition of support cells to a progenitor state capable of...
- This $115,158 Project Grant, awarded on February 1, 2025 by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) under the federal Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders program (CFDA 93.173), supports research into the neurological mechanisms underlying hearing loss. The central hypothesis is that the presentation of phosphatidylserine acts as a signal to mark inactive spiral ganglion neuron connections with outer hair cells for removal, facilitating...
- This $146,206 Project Grant award from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), part of the federal Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders program (CFDA 93.173), will support research to understand the role of auditory cortex and subcortical regions in learning and retaining associations between sounds and behavioral outcomes in mice. The research aims to investigate how the auditory cortex may train subcortical regions like the medial...
- This Project Grant award of $659,102 from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), under the "Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders" (CFDA 93.173) program, supports research on the functions and diseases of cochlear neurons. The research aims to: Identify molecular, proteomic, and functional markers of Type II auditory neurons and examine their functional roles using genetic tools. Determine the in vivo and in vitro functions of...
- This federal Project Grant award of $147,486, provided by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) under the Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders program (CFDA 93.173), will support research to investigate the neural circuitry involved in the categorization of auditory stimuli in mice. The primary objectives are to examine auditory cortical population dynamics during the categorization of unfamiliar pure tones, identify relevant neural...
- This Project Grant award of $149,804 from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), under the federal Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders program (CFDA 93.173), supports research on the role of the ACO2 gene in progressive hearing loss. The awardee, The Jackson Laboratory, a nonprofit biomedical research institution, will investigate how a specific mutation in the ACO2 gene affects the function and survival of spiral ganglion neurons,...
- The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has awarded Albert Einstein College of Medicine a $2,923,021 Project Grant under the 21st Century Cures Act - Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative (CFDA 93.372). The grant, titled "Integrative Analysis of Adaptive Information Processing and Learning-Dependent Circuit Reorganization in the Auditory System," will fund research to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying auditory...
- The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), under the Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders program (CFDA 93.173), awarded a $589,393 Project Grant to Northwestern University to support research on the development of cochlear innervation. The goal is to elucidate how the neural circuit in the mammalian cochlea assembles during development, by altering the identity of certain cell types involved. Through this project, the researchers will...
- This $161,072 Project Grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), under the federal grant program "Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders" (CFDA 93.173), supports research on the role of the FOXP2 transcription factor in the development of the auditory pathway and its potential implications for sensory processing deficits in neurodevelopmental disorders. The research project, conducted by The University of Texas...
DEVELOPMENT AND PLASTICITY OF NEURAL CIRCUITS UNDERLYING SOUND ENCODING - PROJECT SUMMARY FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY OF TYPE I SPIRAL GANGLION NEURONS (SGNS) IN THE COCHLEA IS A FUNDAMENTAL FEATURE OF MAMMALIAN AUDITORY CIRCUITS THOUGHT TO SUPPORT THE WIDE DYNAMIC RANGE OF SOUND INTENSITY CODING. THEY WERE CLASSIFIED RECENTLY INTO THREE MOLECULARLY DISTINCT SUBTYPES (IA, IB, IC). BASED ON THEIR SYNAPSE MORPHOLOGY AND LOCATION AROUND THE INNER HAIR CELL (IHC) CIRCUMFERENCE, THESE MOLECULAR CLASSES CORRESPOND TO SGN SUBGROUPS WITH HIGH, MEDIUM AND LOW SPONTANEOUS FIRING RATES (SR), RESPECTIVELY, DEFINED PREVIOUSLY. SELECTIVE LOSS OF IC CONTRIBUTION TO SOUND ENCODING IS THOUGHT TO UNDERLIE DETERIORATION OF HEARING, PARTICULARLY IN NOISY CONDITIONS, AFTER ACOUSTIC OVEREXPOSURE OR DUE TO OLD AGE. A THOROUGH UNDERSTANDING OF THE MECHANISMS SHAPING SGN IDENTITIES IS CRUCIAL FOR RE-ESTABLISHING THE AFFERENT RESPONSE DIVERSITY NEEDED FOR NORMAL HEARING. SGN HETEROGENEITY EMERGES THROUGH AT LEAST TWO MAJOR SPLITS IN THEIR DIFFERENTIATION TRAJECTORY DURING EMBRYOGENESIS. THE FIRST ONE INVOLVES MAINTENANCE OF THE TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR RUNX1 TO IB/IC PRECURSORS AND REPRESSION IN SGNS THAT BECOME IA, WHILE IB AND IC SGNS SEGREGATE FURTHER IN A SUBSEQUENT SPLIT. FINAL SGN SUBTYPE PROPORTIONS ARE THEN SET POSTNATALLY IN AN ACTIVITY-DEPENDENT MANNER; IN MICE LACKING GLUTAMATERGIC TRANSMISSION FROM IHCS TO SGNS (VGLUT3-/-), MOST DEVELOP AS IA. RUNX1 IS NECESSARY EMBRYONICALLY AND MUST ALSO BE MAINTAINED POSTNATALLY TO AVOID A SIMILAR OVERPRODUCTION OF IA SGNS. HERE WE FURTHER CHARACTERIZE THE REGULATORY LOGIC OF SGN DIVERSIFICATION IN MICE USING SINGLE-CELL GENOMIC APPROACHES. IN AIM 1, WE INVESTIGATE MECHANISMS UNDERLYING THE FIRST BIFURCATION OF SGN SUBTYPE IDENTITIES FEATURING DOWNREGULATION OF RUNX1 IN A SUBSET OF NEURONS. IN AIM 2, WE STUDY HOW HETEROGENEITY IN SGN SPONTANEOUS ACTIVITY RELATES TO THEIR TRANSCRIPTOMIC IDENTITIES AND EXPLORE WHETHER IA SGNS CAN BE CONVERTED BACK TO IB/IC. IN AIM 3, WE MAP THE GENE REGULATORY LANDSCAPE SUPPORTING PLASTICITY AND STABILITY OF SGN IDENTITIES BY PERFORMING SINGLE-CELL MULTIOMIC PROFILING OF SGNS. TOGETHER, THESE STUDIES WILL ADVANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF HOW SGN MOLECULAR IDENTITIES EMERGE, REMAIN PLASTIC, AND ULTIMATELY BECOME STABILIZED, THEREBY OFFERING A POWERFUL PLATFORM TO EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITY OF INTERCONVERSION OF SGN IDENTITIES. THESE GOALS ARE HIGHLY RELEVANT FOR ADDRESSING HEARING HEALTH-RELATED CHALLENGES SUCH AS SYNAPTOPATHY, SGN DEGENERATION, AND GENETIC HEARING LOSS.
Mod # | Description | ReasonForModification | Federal Obligation | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not listed | $605.7k | 4/23/25 | ||
| Not listed | $599.2k | 7/25/24 | ||
| Not listed | $599.2k | 7/25/24 |