# Cell atlas of mouse brain-spinal cord connectome

> **NIH NIH U01** · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA · 2020 · $2,326,542

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Although great efforts have been dedicated to characterizing neuronal cell types in the brain, systematic
studies on the brain-spinal cord connectome and associated spinal neuronal types are lacking. In this project, a
team of seven laboratories proposes to use a highly innovative and multidisciplinary approach to systematically
characterize neuronal types in the spinal cord based on their anatomy, connectivity, neuronal morphologies,
molecular identities, and electrophysiological properties. In Aim 1, we will use a newly developed AAV
anterograde transsynaptic tagging method to label spinal cord neurons that receive descending inputs from
different brain regions, and use a retrograde viral tracer, AAVretro, to label spinal neurons that project to
defined brain regions. These tagged neurons will be imaged in the intact whole spinal cord with a newly
developed fast 3D light sheet microscopy technique, and targeted for recording in slice preparations. The
axonal collateral patterns, dendritic morphologies, and electrophysiological properties will be compared
between different input/output-defined spinal neuron groups. In Aim 2, the gene expression patterns of the
tagged neurons will be determined in situ by sequential bar-coded FISH (seqFISH), with candidate marker
genes obtained from online resources, or from single-cell sorting and RNA sequencing (Dropseq). In Aim 3, all
collected data on connectivity, anatomical cell type distribution map, neuronal morphologies, molecular
identities, and electrophysiological properties will be used for classifying spinal neuron types connected with
brain, and an open-source data portal will be established which will allow users to search, view, and analyze
the multi-modal and integrative cell-type specific data. Together, we aim to construct a comprehensive cell-
type atlas of the mouse brain-spinal cord connectome.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9934019
- **Project number:** 5U01MH116990-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Hong-Wei Dong
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $2,326,542
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-01 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9934019

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9934019, Cell atlas of mouse brain-spinal cord connectome (5U01MH116990-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9934019. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*