Paul Kulesa, PhD, Developmental and Behavioral Health, received a $195,625 transfer R21 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).
The grant is for Dr. Kulesa’s study “A novel platform to enhance single cell interrogation of nervous system development” and covers a project period of February 1, 2024-January 31, 2025 (Award Number: 7R21HD106033-04).
During development, the majority of the peripheral nervous system (PNS) is generated from neural crest cells that migrate extensively throughout the embryo and generate the sympathetic, parasympathetic, sensory and enteric nervous systems. Sympathetic nervous system (SNS) function is tightly linked to heart rate, blood pressure and temperature control.
Also at this development period, the sympathetic ganglia (SG) must move and interact with axons - long, thin fibers that transmit electrical impulses from the cell body of a neuron to other neurons or muscles - that project from preganglionic neurons (PGNs) in the ventral spinal cord to wire the circuit between the central nervous system (CNS) and PNS.
Tissue repair or regeneration therapies for birth defective or damaged neural connections between the central and sympathetic nervous systems offer a potential therapeutic opportunity and improvements in patient quality of life. However, identification of molecular markers of spinal cord and peripheral sympathetic neurons represents a major roadblock in the field that must be addressed prior to further basic research and clinical translation of stem cell-based therapies. Furthermore, one clinically significant example of mistakes in SNS development is neuroblastoma cancer in infants.
“Identification of SNS progenitor cells would allow us to study the transition of progenitor cells into neurons, and how errors in this process result in a transition to neuroblastoma,” explains Dr. Kulesa. “In this study, we explore innovative methods that integrate state-of-the-art spatial gene expression profiling, imaging, and computational tools.”
If successful, Dr. Kulesa says this novel platform will provide a transformative foundation for basic research of peripheral nervous system birth defects and repair using stem cell-based therapies, and studies of neuroblastoma initiation.
Jennifer Kasemeier, PhD, Developmental and Behavioral Health, is a co-investigator on the study.
The contents are those of the investigator and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by NIH, or the U.S. Government.