# The biophysics of skin-neuron sensory tactile organs and their sensitivity to mechanical and chemical stress

> **NIH NIH R35** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $171,047

## Abstract

Pain is a widespread and persistent public health problem with myriad socio-economic
ramifications, including addiction and opiate use disorders. Many therapeutics used for pain
management today have their origins in plants, from aspirin to opiates. Still, most plant derived
compounds have not been studied extensively for their bioactivity, including many that are
synthesized by medicinal plants. This application is submitted to PA-18-591 in response to
NOT-TR-20-008, a call for studies to characterize understudied proteins in the druggable human
genome with the potential to serve as new targets for the treatment of pain. We propose to
establish a rapid research pipeline for linking plant-derived compounds to nociception (pain) and
to GPCRs and ion channels in the druggable human genome. As more than 80% of these
membrane proteins are conserved in C. elegans and this model organism is a proven platform
for phenotypic screens, we propose screens for compounds and genes affecting nociception as
well as to identify novel ligand-receptor pairs using C. elegans nematodes. We will first link
plant-derived compounds to modulation of thermal nociceptors and then to determine which of
the understudied, but conserved GPCRs and ion channels are involved in nociception in the
presence or absence of entry point compounds (Aim 1) and next exploit the fact that C. elegans
chemosensory neurons express multiple GPCRs and that activation of these receptors causes
either attraction or repulsion behaviors (Aim 2). This innovative research project has the
potential to determine the function of the specified genes in nociception and to reveal novel
ligand-receptor pairs that could serve as new entry points for improved or alternative pain
treatments.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10176122
- **Project number:** 3R35NS105092-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Miriam B Goodman
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $171,047
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-09-01 → 2021-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10176122

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10176122, The biophysics of skin-neuron sensory tactile organs and their sensitivity to mechanical and chemical stress (3R35NS105092-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10176122. Licensed CC0.

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