Dr. Jhimmy Talbot studies how interactions between neurons and immune cells in the gut can help the body balance its immune and metabolic trade-offs. The gut balances two competing needs: bringing nutrients in and keeping pathogens out. Talbot showed that in the presence of food, certain gut neurons can increase nutrient absorption by reining in the activity of a specialized subset of immune cells that act to increase the gut wall’s barrier function by decreasing its permeability. His work reveals how changes in the diet or in the intestinal microbiota may lead to metabolic dysfunction and how neuroimmune interactions could be hijacked by microbes to enable infection.