# The biophysics of skin-neuron sensory tactile organs and their sensitivity to mechanical and chemical stress

> **NIH NIH R35** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $54,295

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Skin, muscle, joints, and internal organs encapsulate specialized sensory neurons that detect mechanical cues
in the form of touch and movement. The ability to perform most, if not all of the essential activities of daily living
depend on information from these somatosensory, proprioceptive, and visceral sensory neurons. Thus, a better
understanding of their function and sensitivity to mechanical and chemical stress is of vital importance for
health. This research program focuses on the skin-neuron composite tissues responsible for touch and seeks
to decipher how mechanical force is translated from the skin surface to embedded sensory neurons and
converted into electrical signals that give rise to tactile perceptions. The work combines genetic dissection in a
simple invertebrate (C. elegans nematodes) with high-performance tools (self-sensing cantilevers,
microfluidics-based devices) for delivering mechanical stimuli and for optically monitoring tissue deformation
and neuronal activation with electrophysiology and calcium imaging. The research team includes biologists,
engineers, and physicists and integrates experimental work with theory and simulation. In addition to seeking a
comprehensive understanding of mechanosensation by skin-neuron composites, the research program will
continue to address the outstanding question of how neurons bend without breaking. Based on preliminary
work, we also plan to leverage our knowledge of touch sensation and its molecular basis to investigate how
chemical stressors linked to diabetes (glucose) and chemotherapy (paclitaxel) affect the function and
morphology of skin-neuron composites. The knowledge we seek to acquire is relevant to all animals, including
humans that rely on skin-neuron composites for touch sensation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11089062
- **Project number:** 3R35NS105092-07S1
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Miriam B Goodman
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $54,295
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2017-12-15 → 2025-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11089062

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11089062, The biophysics of skin-neuron sensory tactile organs and their sensitivity to mechanical and chemical stress (3R35NS105092-07S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11089062. Licensed CC0.

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