Project Grant R35GM166720

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences awarded $423,500 to the University of Utah on August 15, 2026, to map inter-organ communication networks by identifying and characterizing circulating proteins that coordinate multi-organ functions under normal and disease conditions.

The project integrates experimental and computational techniques to identify inter-organ signaling factors in blood, develop tools to determine tissue targets of circulating proteins, and apply AI-based prediction methods to characterize hormone-receptor interactions. The work proceeds through four independent but cross-validating aims: identifying inter-organ factors from prior organ-secreted protein datasets, discovering disease-induced secreted proteins that influence pathology, developing "receive-ome" tools to map tissue targets, and adapting AI tools to predict hormones and receptors. Initial in vivo experiments use Drosophila as a model organism, followed by validation in zebrafish and mice. This research addresses a gap in systematic mapping of inter-organ communication analogous to brain connectome projects, overcoming technical barriers posed by the low abundance, regulated secretion, and complex non-cell-autonomous functions of circulating signaling proteins.

Work is performed in Salt Lake City, Utah, with a period of performance through April 30, 2031. This is a Project Grant under the National Institute of General Medical Sciences' Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859), which supports basic research to advance understanding of biological processes and lay foundations for disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.