Mechanical Interoception

Your heart pumps, your stomach expands and squeezes, and your bladder fills. Each of these mechanical stimuli is detected by the nervous system to affect a multitude of downstream physiological responses. Interoception – the perception of stimuli inside the body – is understudied compared to external senses like vision or smell. The mechanisms by which your body detects mechanical force are also poorly understood compared to chemical senses. We will explore the intersection of these two exciting fields.

Our work will span a wide range of cell biology and neuroscience, from studying the molecules and cells in various organs and the peripheral nervous system that are detecting mechanical force, all the way up to the brain, where we will investigate how mechanical force is encoded to shape physiology and behavior.

We will start by using PIEZO ion channels as a genetic handle to begin probing internal mechanosensation. Our approach will include in-vivo imaging, behavior, opto- and chemogenetics, physiological recordings, and techniques from cell biology and anatomy to answer these wide-ranging questions.