Molecular and Anatomical Characterization of Drosophila ENS

In this project, we aim to investigate the molecular, structural, and anatomical organization of the Drosophila enteric nervous system and its connections with the brain to identify conserved principles of how the brain communicates with the gut at the level of genes, cells, and neural circuits to regulate innate behaviors.  A major advantage of using the fly system to study the gut brain-axis control of food intake is the extensive experimental toolkit available for this model. This toolkit enables comprehensive genetic screens, the ability to label molecularly defined populations of neurons, and the precise manipulation of their activity. Furthermore, despite their anatomical and functional resemblance to their mammalian counterparts, the roles of most enteric neurons in Drosophila remain largely unknown and have been understudied. We aim to use the fly model to identify new neural principles and molecules that regulate the gut-brain axis and further explore these in mammalian models.