Shaina Short, a postdoc in Matt Wachowiak’s group, was recently awarded an NIDCD Early Career Research (ECR) Award R21 as PI.
According to the funding opportunity announcement, "the NIDCD ECR Award is different from other NIH R21 programs. It is restricted to clinical and basic scientists who are transitioning to, or are already in the early stages of, their independent research career. The research should be focused on one or more of the areas within the biomedical and behavioral scientific mission of the NIDCD, specifically: hearing, balance, smell, taste, voice, speech, or language. The expected outcome from projects funded under this mechanism is the acquisition of necessary preliminary data for a subsequent research project grant (R01) application."
Shaina Short's research project under the award is titled, "Establishing Patterns of Dopamine Signaling in the Olfactory Bulb." The project narrative concerning the project states, "Abnormal dopamine signaling and a loss of smell are some of the early signals of Alzheimers and Parkinson's disease. Our understanding of how dopamine shapes necessary sensory information processing in the brain is limited. This proposal will generate the first maps of dopamine release patterns in the olfactory bulb during odor processing and after an odor-experience."