Overview
- The five‑year NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award funds a first‑of‑its‑kind atlas of neural pathways that sense internal bodily states.
- Ardem Patapoutian leads the collaboration with Li Ye at Scripps Research and Bosiljka Tasic and Xin Jin at the Allen Institute.
- Researchers will trace sensory neurons from the spinal cord into organs using anatomical labeling and whole‑body imaging, coupled with genetic profiling to define cell types.
- Interoception refers to continuous monitoring of signals such as hunger, heart rate, blood pressure and immune status, much of it outside conscious awareness.
- The work launches as foundational basic science with potential relevance to conditions linked to disrupted internal sensing, including chronic pain, hypertension, autoimmune disorders and neurodegeneration, with results expected over the project’s multi‑year timeline.