By Todd Taylor
The McKnight Brain Institute has selected 11 projects for MBI Spatial Transcriptomics Pilot Awards, designed to promote innovative research that uses spatial transcriptomics in mouse and human tissue models through the MBI’s new Cellular and Molecular Core.
“Spatial transcriptomics allows us to see gene activity in the context of tissue architecture, which is incredibly powerful for neuroscience,” said MBI Associate Director of Innovation Ramon Sun, Ph.D. “These pilot awards are meant to help MBI investigators adapt to new technologies and generate initial datasets that can grow into larger projects, publications and future grants.”
In collaboration with UF’s Center for Advanced Spatial Biomolecule Research, the MBI will distribute over $100,000 of in-kind support across the 11 projects. Recipients span four University of Florida colleges and nine departments, and the awards will help investigators advance projects using the 10x Genomics Visium HD spatial transcriptomics platform. This provides resources and bioinformatics analysis to generate data for manuscripts and grant applications.
Projects were selected by a scientific review committee comprised of members of the MBI Senior Leadership Team.
2026 Spatial Transcriptomics Pilot Award recipients:
Dorsal root ganglia in a murine chronic pain model
Erick Rodriguez-Palma, Ph.D.
College of Medicine
Mapping of TDP-43 pathways in a murine sepsis model
Tolga Catmakas, Ph.D.
College of Medicine
Alcohol-sensitive DRN–NAc circuit that inhibits social reward
Catherine Marcinkiewcz, Ph.D.
College of Pharmacy
Alzheimer’s disease neuropathology and glial responses
Stefan Prokop, M.D.
College of Medicine
Cerebral malaria to define tissue factor-driven pathology
Julie Moore, Ph.D.
College of Veterinary Medicine
Stroke and cerebrovascular disease spatial programs/Stroke AI biobank
Brian Hoh, M.D.
College of Medicine
Cryptococcus neoformans CNS infection and blood–brain barrier interactions
Paola Giusti-Rodriguez, Ph.D.
College of Medicine
GLP-1 receptor agonist effects in the rmTBI mouse model brain injury
College of Medicine
Striatal microcircuitry in a novel overt DYT1 dystonia mouse models
Yuqing Li, Ph.D.
College of Medicine
Fentanyl, xylazine, and fentanyl+xylazine in the nucleus accumbens
Brandon Warren, Ph.D.
College of Pharmacy
Mapping of human brain tissue to advance epigenomic integration in neurodegenerative disease
Yenisel Cruz-Almeida, Ph.D.
College of Dentistry