# Ventral hippocampal to hypothalamic circuit control of fear memories

> **NIH NIH F32** · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2020 · $57,350

## Abstract

Project Summary and Abstract
 Fear and trauma-related disorders affect millions of people in the United States and throughout the world
each year. While the symptomatology in these disorders is well-characterized, the neural circuits which encode
trauma are not. This proposal will provide a critical insight into these circuits by dissecting how a discrete
pathway from the ventral hippocampus to the hypothalamus controls fear memories. Aim 1 will use cutting-
edge retrograde viral targeting techniques along with chemogenetics to elucidate how silencing this circuit
modulates fear memories in males and females. Aim 2 will use the same retrograde viral strategy from Aim 1
along with a genetically encoded calcium indicator and fiber photometry to reveal how circuit activity shifts from
fear acquisition to fear memory retrieval. Aim 3 will examine how silencing this circuit alters trans-synaptic
transcriptional activity in the hypothalamus. This proposal will reveal a novel neural circuit mechanism for fear
memories. It will provide fundamental insights into a high-value target for innovative treatments of fear and
trauma-related disorders.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9895479
- **Project number:** 5F32MH114306-03
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Arun Asok
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $57,350
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-04-01 → 2021-01-07

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9895479

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9895479, Ventral hippocampal to hypothalamic circuit control of fear memories (5F32MH114306-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9895479. Licensed CC0.

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