CNIC: US-India Collaborative Research to Decipher Function and Evolution of GABAergic Neurotransmission in Planaria

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1322626Latha Ramakrishnan This Catalyzing New International Collaboration (CNIC) award supports U.S.-India Collaborative Research to Decipher Function and Evolution of GABAergic Neurotransmission in Planaria. Professor Latha Ramakrishnan, St. Cloud State University will initiate an international collaboration with Dr. Priyadarsi De, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research-Kolkata to develop novel reagents for investigating the evolution and function of GABAergic neurotransmission. The interdisciplinary research endeavor is to design and fabricate cell-type targeted nanomaterials for GABAergic gene function analysis in planaria using a powerful new gene knockdown technique for tissue specific controlled suppression of gene expression. The technique could provide a discrete tool for the functional characterization of the GABA receptor family in planarians and inform our understanding of the evolution of this important pathway. There is increasing interest in the invertebrate organism as a model for various neurobiological and developmental studies. The researchers combined expertise spans chemistry, physical chemistry, molecular biology, and materials science. The award supports travel for the US PI and senior undergraduate student to visit the collaborator?s lab in India where they will develop and learn how to synthesize the polymeric nanoparticles that will be derivatized to promote specific knockdown of key mRNA targets. Proof of principle experiments will be carried out by graduate and undergraduate students in the respective laboratories with the overall goal of submitting a competitive pre-proposal to the Integrative Organismal Systems, Neural Systems Cluster. If the project goals are achieved, this research could significantly impact the neurosciences and other fields such as materials science and nanotechnology. It may also have far-reaching broader impacts on multidisciplinary research and it will have provided a unique international research experience for the next generation of student participants in this project.