Sharma Lab

How the nervous system controls the gut.

The intestine is run by three kinds of neurons at once: the enteric nervous system embedded in the gut wall, sensory neurons that report gut state back to the brain and spinal cord, and autonomic neurons that carry commands out to it. We build mouse genetic tools that reach each of these cell types individually, then ask what each one actually does, how it is wired, what it responds to, and which part of gut function falls apart without it.