# Cell growth and proliferation control in neural stem cells

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA · 2020 · $323,472

## Abstract

Project Summary:
The long term goal of this research project is to understand how nutrient derived cues integrate
with cell intrinsic programs to control timing and rate of neurogenesis. All neurons within our
brains are generated from the asymmetric cell divisions of neural stem cells, which are self-
renewing multi-potent progenitors. Neural stem cells play a key role in regulating brain size and
neuronal diversity, as this population remains actively engaged in the cell cycle throughout
development. While much effort has been geared towards identifying genes and the cell
signaling pathways that regulate neural stem cell self-renewal, less is known about how
extrinsic factors, local and systemic, integrate with intrinsic neural stem cell factors to control
timing and rate of neurogenesis. Here, using the Drosophila brain as a genetically tractable
model system, we investigate how nutrient derived extrinsic signals integrate with cell intrinsic
programs to control timing and rate of neurogenesis.
 In this proposal, we will investigate (1) whether the machinery that drives asymmetric
cell division itself also play a role in regulating neural stem cell growth and proliferation, (2) how
nutrition regulates neural stem cell proliferation, and (3) how a particular transcription factor,
which is highly conserved, can override nutrient-dependent requirements for neural stem cell
proliferation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9995506
- **Project number:** 5R01GM120421-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Sarah Elizabeth Siegrist
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $323,472
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-01 → 2021-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9995506

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9995506, Cell growth and proliferation control in neural stem cells (5R01GM120421-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9995506. Licensed CC0.

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