# Optical Imaging Tools for Elucidating the Roles of Anions and Anionic Modifications in Cellular Signaling

> **NIH NIH R35** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS DALLAS · 2021 · $382,500

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Cation fluxes are known to drive cellular signaling events, whereas anions are considered to function as
counterions to neutralize these changes. But could anions be dynamic cellular signals? This paradigm shifting
question, in large part, has been overlooked from the chemical biology/bioinorganic perspective, despite the fact
that anion dysregulation is implicated in a variety of diseases including chronic pain, autism, and cancer. The
long-term goal of our research program is to identify the cellular sources, protein targets, and signaling roles of
biologically relevant anions in health and disease, but the technologies to do so are still underdeveloped. To this
end, here we propose to create new optical imaging tools that will allows to build a molecular level picture into
the how, when, where, and why of what anions are actually doing in living systems. Our findings, will not only
provide a fundamental understanding for the role of anions in cell signaling, but also in the manifestation,
diagnosis, and treatment of associated diseased states.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10241998
- **Project number:** 5R35GM128923-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS DALLAS
- **Principal Investigator:** Sheel Dodani
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $382,500
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-08-01 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10241998

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10241998, Optical Imaging Tools for Elucidating the Roles of Anions and Anionic Modifications in Cellular Signaling (5R35GM128923-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10241998. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*