# Sensory mechanisms underlying metabolic regulation

> **NIH NIH K99** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2021 · $91,500

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 Animals have a remarkable ability to restore metabolic homeostasis after a challenge to their internal state. In
 order to maintain energy balance after a meal, the composition and quantity of ingested food needs to be
 closely monitored to coordinate the physiological responses of visceral organs. Dysregulation of this process
 leads to metabolic disease like obesity and diabetes. However, how sensory signals of nutritional state are
 detected and processed to generate metabolic commands is poorly understood. Vagal sensory neurons
 innervate the gut and are poised to detect diverse interoceptive cues. My postdoctoral work in Dr. Zachary
 Knight's lab has generated a cellular map of vagal sensory neurons that links their molecular identity to their
 target organ innervations and putative gut signals. This work provided a roadmap for the use of genetic tools to
 manipulate vagal subtypes with high specificity. In the mentored phase of this grant, I will build upon my
 postdoctoral discoveries by investigating how vagal sensory neurons regulate autonomic responses to achieve
 metabolic homeostasis (Aim 1). These mentored experiments will allow me to gain deep understanding of
 metabolic regulation and autonomic physiology, as well as to acquire additional surgical skills to manipulate the
GI tract.
The target of vagal neurons is the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS), a key metabolic center that integrates
neural and circulating humoral signals and generates complex physiological and behavioral commands to
 maintain energy balance. In the independent phase of this grant, I will build upon my graduate and
 postdoctoral training to further investigate how the downstream neuronal circuits in the NTS integrate and
 process interoceptive signals, and how they generate output commands to drive metabolic responses (Aim 2
 and Aim 3). This grant will allow me to expand my current experimental and intellectual skills and develop
 additional expertise in metabolic regulation as well as electrophysiology guided circuit mapping, under the
 guidance of my advisory committee who are expertise in those fields. This will further link my sensory
 neurobiology skillset to the study of physiologic function and advance my career goal of being an independent
researcher.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10106443
- **Project number:** 1K99DK127210-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Ling Bai
- **Activity code:** K99 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $91,500
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-02-03 → 2021-06-11

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10106443

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10106443, Sensory mechanisms underlying metabolic regulation (1K99DK127210-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-31 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10106443. Licensed CC0.

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