# High-throughput mapping of olfactory receptor identity to olfactory bulb glomeruli

> **NIH NIH F31** · DUKE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $37,162

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
All animals, including humans, use their sense of smell to learn about the nutritional, safety, and social states
of their environments. Olfaction is orchestrated by olfactory sensory neurons expressing identical receptors,
which target their axons to glomeruli in the olfactory bulb generating an olfactory map. Glomeruli are the
elementary units of olfactory processing and organize information from the nose and transmit it to higher
regions of the brain. Currently, the principles governing how this map is formed, organized, and interpreted to
trigger thoughts, memories, emotions, and behaviors are not completely understood due to the complexity of
the olfactory system. This proposal aims to understand the mechanisms governing axon targeting to glomeruli
and to determine the anatomical relationships between olfactory receptors and their glomeruli.
In my preliminary studies, I established a method to quantify olfactory receptor (OR) positions in the bulb.
Using this approach, I have determined the anterior-posterior positions for 905 ORs. Aim 1 seeks to
comprehensively evaluate ORs in vitro to test the hypothesis that OR basal activity correlates with OSN axon-
targeting along the anterior-posterior axis. Aim 2 seeks to test the hypothesis that glomerular positions are
stereotyped but not fixed and the positional variability can vary from OR to OR.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9983689
- **Project number:** 5F31DC017394-03
- **Recipient organization:** DUKE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Kevin William Zhu
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $37,162
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-01 → 2021-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9983689

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9983689, High-throughput mapping of olfactory receptor identity to olfactory bulb glomeruli (5F31DC017394-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9983689. Licensed CC0.

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