# Analgesic Signaling in Drosophila

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF TX MD ANDERSON CAN CTR · 2024 · $75,602

## Abstract

Analgesia, the dampening of nociceptive responses to noxious stimuli capable of damaging tissues, is an
adaptive behavioral response for organisms- allowing them to feel less pain in physiologically appropriate
situations. Our parent grant uses the genetically tractable model organism Drosophila to explore the
molecular/genetic bases of opiate-induced analgesic signaling. Our long-term goal in this basic research
project is to identify and characterize analgesic signaling pathways in Drosophila larvae. We have found
previously that the opiate compounds morphine and fentanyl are analgesic for Drosophila larvae and that a
conserved G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR), AstC-R1, is required in this organism for opiate-induced
thermal analgesia upon exposure to high-temperature noxious stimuli. This parent NIH grant, like most others,
involves training graduate students. My lab, like the NIH and NINDS, is dedicated to training a diverse scientific
workforce. In February of 2023 we took on a new graduate student, Samantha (Sam) Mota, who, due to her
Latin-American descent, qualifies as a diversity supplement candidate. The aims of the parent grant are to
characterize AstC-R1's requirement for thermal analgesia, to interrogate functional expression of AstC-R1 in
mediating thermal analgesia, and to assess whether the putative receptor's analgesic effects extend to other
sensory modalities beyond heat. Sam's graduate project is two-tiered. She is first driving the completion of our
first analgesia paper- focusing on the cellular locus of action of AstC-R1 and possible analgesic actions of the
AstC peptide. Her more exploratory work (subject of a planned future F31 submission) is primarily related to
our original third aim where we explore deleterious biological side effects of morphine such as constipation.
Sam's aims in this diversity supplement are two-fold and represent an in-scope expansion of the original
project: First, she will build on prior experiments to unravel where AstC-R1 functions in analgesia- trying to
pinpoint which particular nociceptive basin interneurons are required. Second, Sam will explore endogenous
analgesic roles of the AstC neuropeptide ligand for AstC-R1, and, in a substantial but related expansion of the
original aims- tackle possible neuronal connectivity between AstC-R1-expressing and AstC-expressing
neurons. The NINDS diversity supplement we propose here will fund a highly promising graduate student who
is likely to become, upon the successful completion of her graduate project(s), a powerful role model for
female-scientists of Latin-American descent. As her project progresses, Sam will apply for F31 funding focused
on a new research direction that allows her to build her research skills- especially as they relate to assay
design and video microscopy- opiate-induced constipation. Successful completion of her project aims will
enable her to achieve both her short-term and long-term career goals, which eventually include teach...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11089659
- **Project number:** 3R01NS124606-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TX MD ANDERSON CAN CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** MICHAEL J GALKO
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $75,602
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2022-06-15 → 2027-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11089659

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11089659, Analgesic Signaling in Drosophila (3R01NS124606-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11089659. Licensed CC0.

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