Project Grant R21MH144579

The National Institute of Mental Health awarded the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill $420,552 on August 3, 2026, under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) to identify precise brain regions and cell types associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder, Tourette syndrome, and anorexia nervosa using genomic analysis.

The recipient will combine the latest genome-wide association study data for these three disorders with single-cell gene expression atlases to enhance understanding of the brain regions and cell types involved and identify rational brain targets for stimulation therapy. The work addresses a gap in the neurobiology of these conditions, for which no FDA-approved medications have been specifically developed, and will inform brain stimulation approaches such as transcranial magnetic stimulation and deep brain stimulation, where current practice lacks evidence-based targeting guidance.

In the primary analytical aim, the research will test for enrichment of disorder-specific summary statistics with cell types defined by recent transcriptomic census data of the entire human brain comprising more than three million cells, prioritizing specific neuronal clusters involved in one or more of these disorders.

Work is performed at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with a period of performance through August 2, 2028. This is a Project Grant, the standard NIH research grant mechanism for hypothesis-driven basic and translational research.