# REVEAL - Research Evaluating Vagal Excitation and Anatomical Linkages.

> **NIH NIH U54** · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · 2024 · $45,585

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
The vagus nerve is involved in normal physiology, and disturbances in vagal control have been implicated in
several pathophysiological conditions. However, there is a lack of information on the physiology of this nerve in
humans as well as multi-organ responses to vagal nerve stimulation (VNS), despite over 100,000 VNS implants
worldwide to treat epilepsy, depression, anxiety, and gastrointestinal disorders. Likewise, very little is known
about how to best optimize VNS settings for existing therapies or how to develop VNS for new therapies. The
proposed Research Evaluating Vagal Excitation and Anatomical Linkages (REVEAL) center aims to conduct
groundbreaking research on the effect of VNS on four key autonomic systems: the autonomic nervous system
(ANS), the cardiovascular system, the immune system, and metabolic system. The ambitious scope of the
research requires the participation of eight major academic and medical institutions with over 40 participating
key personnel, over 140 patients, an External Advisory Board (which includes patient advocates), a Data and
Safety Monitoring Board, and an NIH Steering Committee and other NIH personnel. REVEAL will have three
aims corresponding to its Cores. The Clinical Core will manage over 140 patients and clinical staff from 8 different
institutions to obtain consistent data on VNS effects on ANS, the cardiovascular system, the immune system,
and metabolism. The Data and Analysis Core will gather, store, and analyze data from clinical sites to produce
publicly available datasets for development of VNS-based therapeutics and other research. The Administration
Core will coordinate the work of the REVEAL Cores and stakeholders to meet the goals of NIH SPARC’s VESPA
program.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11010691
- **Project number:** 3U54AT012307-02S2
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
- **Principal Investigator:** Lynn E Eberly
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $45,585
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2022-09-23 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11010691

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11010691, REVEAL - Research Evaluating Vagal Excitation and Anatomical Linkages. (3U54AT012307-02S2). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11010691. Licensed CC0.

---

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