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SUMMARY:Bigger Picture Talk with Professor Maya Kaelberer - Maya Kaelberer
 \, Assistant Professor Neurobiology
DTSTART:20230322T160000Z
DTEND:20230322T170000Z
UID:TALK198514@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Mariella Kundert
DESCRIPTION:Our departmental seminar series\, Bigger Picture Talks\, runs 
 throughout the academic year\, inviting thought-leaders from across the wo
 rld driving significant advances in our impact areas of energy\, health an
 d sustainability to share and discuss their work with us.\n\nFor this B
 igger Picture Talk we are joined by Professor Maya Kaelberer\, Assistant P
 rofessor in Neurobiology at the Bohorquez Laboratory at Duke University.\n
 \n*Abstract*\nIt has long been established that when an animal is given ch
 oice between a caloric sugar (sucrose) and a non-caloric sweetener (sucral
 ose) that the animal will prefer sucrose over sucralose. Furthermore\, thi
 s preference is independent of the sweet taste in the mouth. I study a spe
 cial type of sensory cell\, neuropod cells\, in the gut surface. These neu
 ropod cells communicate directly and rapidly with the brain in order to co
 mmunicate what has been eaten by the animal. My team recently discovered t
 hat neuropod cells of the small intestine differentially sense sucrose and
  sucralose. And further showed that this distinction drives the animal to 
 consume sucrose over sucralose.\n\n*Bio*\nMaya is a sensory neurobiologist
 . In 2015\, she was awarded a PhD from Yale University in Cellular and Mol
 ecular Physiology. At Yale\, Maya studied the how individual neurons of th
 e vagus nerve respond to inflammation. Though the vagus has been of intere
 st for centuries\, only in recent years have the tools emerged to study si
 ngle cells. Maya was one of the first trainees to use transcriptomics to s
 tudy specific populations vagal neurons. These experiences were a platform
  for Maya to uncover a novel sensory neural circuit during her postdoc. Af
 ter completing her Ph.D.\, Maya joined the laboratory of Dr. Diego Bohorqu
 ez at Duke University. She focused her expertise on uncovering how the gut
  communicates sensory signals from nutrients to the brain. In 2018\, Maya 
 was the leading author on an article in Science showing the neural basis o
 f a new sense - a gut sense. This work has opened a new field of explorati
 on in sensory neurobiology. One to explore how nutrients affect emotions a
 nd behavior through dedicated neural circuits. Maya’s research seeks to 
 uncover the secrets of how the gut and brain talk in real time.
LOCATION:Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology\, West Cambr
 idge Site
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