# A cellular atlas of the primate and human basal ganglia

> **NIH NIH U01** · BROAD INSTITUTE, INC. · 2022 · $1,718,608

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The human basal ganglia (BG) are a collection of subcortical regions whose diverse, specialized cell types
influence motor control, emotional regulation, habit formation, and higher cognition. Recent advances in
single-cell transcriptome and epigenome sequencing have revolutionized our ability to systematically define
cell types and states across complex tissues, reaching sufficient levels of throughput and robustness to be
deployable to large brain tissue regions like the primate BG. However, to date, despite the central role of BG
cell types in many neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases, their molecular definitions in the human
and primate are distinctly lacking. Here, we propose to use a combination of high-throughput single-nucleus
RNAseq, a novel high-resolution spatial technology, Slide-seq, and a new approach to jointly profile
transcription and ATAC signatures called SHARE-seq, to systematically identify and anatomically map cell
types across the macaque BG. We will use these same methods to characterize cell type diversity across a
set of 200 postmortem human brains, an unprecedentedly large sample size that will enrich our understanding
of inter-individual variation in this clinically relevant set of brain regions. We will then use these data to build
new viral tools for the functional interrogation of four principal BG cell types in the primate. Together, this work
will provide a comprehensive and high-resolution molecular characterization of BG cell types, provide tools for
linking these molecular definitions to functional ones, and establish a framework for such cell type
characterization across the entire human brain.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10311023
- **Project number:** 5U01MH124602-02
- **Recipient organization:** BROAD INSTITUTE, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Jason Daniel Buenrostro
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $1,718,608
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-12-05 → 2023-10-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10311023

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10311023, A cellular atlas of the primate and human basal ganglia (5U01MH124602-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10311023. Licensed CC0.

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