Federal Grant Award Summary

The University of Pennsylvania received a $798,039 Project Grant award from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) under the Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.847), effective March 1, 2026 through January 31, 2030. This award funds basic biomedical research investigating self-organization mechanisms in the intestinal epithelium, with a focus on understanding how enterocyte zonation—the spatial organization of specialized cell functions along the villus axis—emerges through local cell-cell interactions rather than exclusively through luminal contents.

The research will deliver two primary scientific products: (1) computational models of self-organizing zonation using the Niche-driven Coordinated Progression (COPRO) model integrated with spatial transcriptomics and novel SPACEBAR lineage tracing technology to characterize gene programs underlying spatial coordination in both 2D enteroids and mouse intestinal tissue, and (2) empirical validation of zonation as a self-organizing property through spatial perturbation experiments that track enterocyte adaptation when repositioned to non-natural locations. These research activities will generate novel methodologies, datasets, and mechanistic insights into epithelial self-organization principles applicable to digestive disease research priorities supported by NIDDK's extramural research portfolio.