# Postnatal experience shapes gene expression and connectivity development in the cortex

> **NIH NIH F32** · OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $30,456

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Postnatal sensory experience has a profound effect on the maturation, composition, and connectivity of cortical
cell types, but systematic analyses of these changes have not yet been feasible. This lack of methods for
systematic analysis had made it difficult to define principles in how neural activity re-wires brain circuits and
whether connectivity changes precede or follow molecular changes in brain cell types. Systematically
characterizing how neural activity from the sensory periphery shapes the molecular and synaptic properties of
neural circuits in the brain would benefit from new technologies in which synaptic connectivity relationships and
genome-wide RNAs could be measured in vivo from the same individual cells. High-throughput, single-cell
resolved methods to profile gene expression and synaptic connectivity – including the barcoded rabies virus-
based method called Slide-SBARRO method developed in the Saunders Lab - are well suited to study how
sensory input influences cortical circuit formation. In Aim 1, I will use an inducible mouse model paired with single
nucleus RNA sequencing of primary auditory cortex (A1) cells to determine how auditory input shapes cortical
cell-type proportions and gene expression. In Aim 2, I will determine how auditory input shapes local synaptic
relationships within A1 by reconstructing hundreds of spatially resolved and cell-type-specific monosynaptic
networks using Slide-SBARRO. By comprehensively characterizing how auditory sensory input alters brain cell
and circuit properties in A1, this proposal will enhance our understanding of the mechanisms through which
cortex responds to damage in the sensory periphery. Finally, this proposal will allow me to develop new technical
skills and intellectual approaches that I will use to study auditory circuit plasticity as an independent researcher.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10907529
- **Project number:** 5F32MH134413-02
- **Recipient organization:** OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Alexander Nevue
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $30,456
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-08-01 → 2024-12-16

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10907529

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10907529, Postnatal experience shapes gene expression and connectivity development in the cortex (5F32MH134413-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10907529. Licensed CC0.

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