Sensory, neuronal, and developmental mechanisms of gut-to-brain signaling

Sensations in our internal organs like the gut have long been associated with human instinct and emotions across cultures and languages (e.g., “gut feeling” and “butterflies in the stomach” in English). Communication between the gut and the brain enables our primal drives for food, governs sensations such as fullness and nausea, and may be associated with emotions such as nervousness. Using neurogenetic approaches, we are excited to examine questions like: what is it that we are sensing inside our gastrointestinal tracts? How is gut sensory information processed and conveyed to the brain? How does gut sensory processing go awry in neurodevelopmental disorders like autism? We hope that the mechanistic insights uncovered through our research can ultimately inform the development of therapeutic approaches targeting the gut-brain axis.