# Investigation of Inflammatory Responses in the Olfactory System

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS · 2024 · $70,806

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Olfactory loss is a prodromal symptom of neurodegenerative diseases and is also frequently observed in
clinical manifestations among COVID-19 patients. Whether the degree of olfactory deficit in COVID-19 is
indicative of any long-term neurological diseases has not been carefully evaluated. Recent human studies
have identified that SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with the early onset of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson
disease. In this study, we created an acute neurodegenerative disease mouse model, which allows us to
investigate the impact of neurotoxic aggregates in the olfactory bulb on neuroinflammation and pathology
propagation. We hypothesize that viral infection induced inflammation compounds with predisposed
neurotoxic aggregates induced inflammation. Specifically, we will characterize inflammatory responses in
the olfactory system induced by stereotaxically injected amyloid beta and alpha-synuclein aggregates and
further establish SARS-CoV-2 infections paradigms along with the acute neurotoxin model to study
molecular and cellular phenotypes between external pathogen exposure and internal protein aggregates
induced changes. Through this study, we will gain an understanding of the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection
on neurotoxic aggregate associated neurodegeneration.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11070976
- **Project number:** 3R01DC019769-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS
- **Principal Investigator:** Qizhi Gong
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $70,806
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2022-04-01 → 2025-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11070976

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11070976, Investigation of Inflammatory Responses in the Olfactory System (3R01DC019769-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11070976. Licensed CC0.

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