Award
National Institute of Mental Health 4RF1MH132710-04
Primary Cilia: A Novel Signaling Gateway To Neural Circuit Modulation
Recipient
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Physiology
Award Amount
$2,189,936.00
Ceiling
$2,189,936.00
Awarded
September 18, 2025
Identifier
4RF1MH132710-04
This NIH-funded project investigates primary cilia signaling in neuronal circuits to understand and potentially treat neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and epilepsy by exploring signaling mechanisms, neuronal ciliary mapping, live imaging, and brain organoid models.
Description
The project aims to delineate primary cilia driven signaling mechanisms in neuronal function and malfunction in the cerebral cortex, with the goal of using primary cilia signaling as a therapeutic tool to mend neural circuit disorders. It focuses on defining signaling mechanisms utilized by primary cilia for neuronal functions, mapping neuronal ciliary receptome and profiling ciliary connectome within human cerebral cortical circuitry, live imaging cilia-driven neuronal activity and transcriptional changes during neural circuit plasticity, and modeling human ciliopathies in brain organoids to explore rescue of circuit malfunctions.