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Novel Device Neurotechnologies for Probing Peripheral or Body-Brain Neural Processes within the Mission of NIDDK

May 2024 Council

Lead Division/Office

DDN, DEM, KUH

Point(s) of Contact

Diana Cummings, Ph.D., Christine Densmore, M.S., Padma Maruvada, Ph.D., Terez Shea-Donohue, Ph.D., Brad Cooke, Ph.D., Chris Mullins, Ph.D.

Executive Summary

Bidirectional brain-visceral organ communication plays a critical role in controlling physiological functions that promote health and survival (e.g., energy homeostasis, digestion, voiding, etc.), and disruptions to this communication cause or contribute to many diseases within NIDDK’s mission (e.g., obesity, metabolic dysfunction, disorders of gut-brain interaction, neuro-urological disorders, etc.). Distinct challenges faced by neuroscientists who study cells, circuits, and body-brain interactions involving peripheral organ systems include the relative inaccessibility and unique anatomy and physiology of visceral organs, as well as technical difficulties inherent to simultaneous interrogation of the brain and a visceral organ. Three recent NIDDK-sponsored workshops, e.g., Neuroimmune Crosstalk in the Gut, Neural Plasticity of Energy Homeostasis and Obesity, and Neurourology: Bridging Basic and Clinical Science to Understand Urologic Disease, emphasized the need for better neurotechnologies for interrogating interactions between visceral organs and the associated peripheral and/or central nervous system. This initiative’s purpose is to facilitate the development and translation of transformative technological approaches that will break through existing technical barriers and improve capabilities for basic, translational, and clinical research on the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and/or body-brain axis that is relevant to diseases within NIDDK’s mission.