Neurobiology of eating behaviours
Short description
Our main focus is to unravel the neuronal pathways responding to environmental and intrinsic signals that regulate feeding behaviours
- Gut-brain axis
- The ghrelin signalling system
- The neurobiology of eating disorders and obesity
- Eating behaviours (appetitive and consummatory)
- Hunger, appetite and food cues
- Nutrition and brain health
Our Research
Our primary research interest is the neurobiology of appetite with particular emphasis on understanding how food intake and feeding behavior is controlled. We are interested in disease mechanisms that lead to obesity and eating disorders.
One major focus is to determine the effects of endocrine and metabolic signals, such as ghrelin, on brain networks that control food intake. These brain networks include pathways involved in energy balance, reward and emotion.
We have active research programs that pursue the physiological brain targets for the circulating hormone, ghrelin, and to understand how the brain ghrelin signalling system may be developed as a therapeutic target. We combine classical behavioural studies with neurocircuit mapping (e.g. chemogenetics), neuroanatomy and molecular techniques with a view to better understand biological events at the level of the organism.
Group members
- Professor Suzanne L Dickson, Principal Investigator
- Erik Schéle, Senior Researcher
- Marie Le May, Post-doctoral Scientist
- Iris Stoltenborg, Doctoral Student
- Renée Poelman, Doctoral Student
- Professor Roger Adan, Adjunct Professor
