# High resolution transcriptome and gene regulatory mapping of human ureter and bladder across the lifespan

> **NIH NIH U01** · CLEVELAND CLINIC LERNER COM-CWRU · 2024 · $483,000

## Abstract

Abstract
Benign urologic diseases of the lower urinary tract such as urinary tract infections, benign prostatic
hyperplasia, voiding dysfunction, urinary incontinence, interstitial cystitis, painful bladder syndrome, and
urethral strictures incur significant health care burden in the US. Our lack of a comprehensive molecular and
cellular understanding of these tissues in the normal and disease states has directly hindered the development
of effective novel therapies for these conditions. We are proposing to generate high-resolution transcriptome
and gene regulatory data set for healthy human ureter and bladder tissues across the lifespan in both sexes.
The overall goal is to construct a highly integrated cellular and molecular anatomical map of the ureter and
bladder in humans. This will enable us to comprehensively understand the cellular composition and lineage
relationships of the lower urinary tract system. Towards this aim, we have established a robust tissue
procurement and processing workflow. This allows us to recover the lower urinary track en bloc from deceased
organ donors and process them, with high cell viability and tissue integrity, for molecular assays. We propose
to collect scRNA-seq and Visium spatial transcriptomics data on organ donors in 3 age groups that reflect
distinct physiological states in terms of lower urinary tract functions across the human life span. For each
donor, we will analyze five specified anatomic locations, lower ureter, dome, ureteral orifice, bladder neck, and
urethra, to comprehensively characterize parts of the lower urinary tract that have unique tissues structures
and functions. We will use these data to understand the lineage relationships between the different cell types
and validate novel markers for each novel cell type by immunostaining. Finally, we will perform scATAC-seq on
the most informative tissue locations to gain further insight into the underlying gene regulatory networks.
Together these studies will provide, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of the human bladder and
ureter throughout life. These molecular data will become a valuable resource to the research community and
ultimately, support efforts in organ repair and regeneration.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10899564
- **Project number:** 5U01DK131383-04
- **Recipient organization:** CLEVELAND CLINIC LERNER COM-CWRU
- **Principal Investigator:** Byron H Lee
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $483,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-09-30 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10899564

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10899564, High resolution transcriptome and gene regulatory mapping of human ureter and bladder across the lifespan (5U01DK131383-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10899564. Licensed CC0.

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