# CHANGE OF GRANTEE ORGANIZATION: The Receptor Basis for Serotonergic Modulation of Olfaction Across Multiple Brain Areas

> **NIH NIH R01** · CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $107,994

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY.
The nervous system constantly adjusts how it processes sensory information based on the experience and
physiological state of an animal. This flexibility is enabled by the release of neuromodulators, which alter the
biophysical properties and synaptic interactions between neurons within a network. Neuromodulatory
dysfunction is associated with many neurological disorders, yet despite its importance for healthy sensory
processing, the effects of neuromodulation on sensory processing are often heterogeneous and difficult to
predict. This is due to the diversity of receptors for a given neuromodulator, and the complexity of cell-class
specific receptor expression patterns. For example, there are 14 serotonin receptors that differ in their
intracellular signaling targets, time course of action and binding affinity for serotonin. When this is combined with
the diversity of cell types within a neural network, understanding the impact of serotonin on sensory processing
becomes challenging. We propose to address the topic of the receptor basis sensory modulation using the
olfactory system of Drosophila as there is comprehensive understanding of sensory network connectivity and
the modulatory receptors expressed by each class within that network. We previously demonstrated that
serotonergic neurons primarily synapse upon inhibitory neurons that affect different aspects of olfactory coding
in Drosophila. Our objective is to determine how the serotonin receptors expressed by each class of inhibitory
neuron alter olfactory coding and odor-guided behavior. Our proposed experiments will establish how receptor
expression patterns dictate the effects of serotonin on information coding, thus addressing a critical gap in our
knowledge of healthy sensory processing. Ultimately this will reveal the mechanisms by which serotonin
regulates how information about the external world is processed.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11260881
- **Project number:** 7R01DC016293-06
- **Recipient organization:** CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Andrew M Dacks
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $107,994
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2018-06-01 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11260881

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11260881, CHANGE OF GRANTEE ORGANIZATION: The Receptor Basis for Serotonergic Modulation of Olfaction Across Multiple Brain Areas (7R01DC016293-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11260881. Licensed CC0.

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