# Engineering the Vocal Fold Mucosa

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · 2024 · $582,855

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
 Vocal fold (VF) mucosa is critical to vocal quality; poor healing ability and limitations of surgical repair have
motivated strategies to engineer living tissue replacements. A lack of fundamental understanding of the
complexity of VF mucosa's cellular and spatial heterogeneity is largely responsible for incremental progress
being made in VF tissue engineering. The overall objective of this proposal, which is a necessary step towards
achieving our long term goal of engineering replacements for VF mucosa, is to link single-cell RNA sequencing
and spatial transcriptomics, at exceptional resolution, to characterize VF morphogenesis across time, location
and cellular compartments and in response to injury. We will create large-scale single cell spatiotemporal
atlases of VF mucosa. In specific aim 1 we will identify and characterize murine VF cell populations and their
spatial distribution through embryonic and postnatal development. In specific aim 2 we will identify and
characterize human VF cell populations and spatial distribution across the lifespan. Results will provide
markers for characterization of proper tissue assembly and maintenance, which can then be applied as design
parameters for tissue engineering approaches. Cross-species validation will be a powerful strategy for
optimization, to prioritize genes and pathways for further investigation. Work in specific aim 3 will molecularly
profile cell subsets involved in VF injury and repair in a murine mucosa injury model. We will identify
subpopulations of fibroblasts and epithelial cells that respond to injury. Characterizing the relationship
between specific cell subpopulations, their interactions, spatial location and pathways involved in VF injury and
repair, will identify therapeutic avenues to mitigate VF scarring. The innovative use of transcriptional profiling
as an anchor of our research strategy, will provide differentiation criteria and vital tissue engineering design
parameters that can be used for the regeneration of new, normal VF mucosa.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10911932
- **Project number:** 5R01DC004336-25
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
- **Principal Investigator:** Susan Lynn Thibeault
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $582,855
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2000-02-01 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10911932

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10911932, Engineering the Vocal Fold Mucosa (5R01DC004336-25). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10911932. Licensed CC0.

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