The rockefeller university

Understanding Communication Between the Nervous and Immune Systems

REGISTER   DONATE

SPEAKER

Daniel Mucida, Ph.D.

Professor
Laboratory of Mucosal Immunology
The Rockefeller University
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

HOST

Richard P. Lifton, M.D., Ph.D.

President and Carson Family Professor
The Rockefeller University

Whether you are awake, asleep, focused, or distracted, your brain is paying attention behind the scenes. Beyond conscious awareness, the brain communicates with internal tissues and organs to regulate functions such as digestion, circulation, metabolism, and breathing. Sensations like thirst, hunger, or nausea are among the few clues that alert us to the nervous system’s continuous sensing and monitoring of internal states, known as interoception.

Interoception has drawn the interest of scientists like immunologist Daniel Mucida, whose work has revealed surprising connections between the immune system, neurons in the gut, and the brain. Dr. Mucida cites recent research indicating that the brain can “feel” the immune system as it responds to states such as infection, inflammation, and tumor formation—even at very early stages. For this lecture, he will discuss surprising findings from his lab and others in the field, which suggest that signals generated when the gut encounters infectious microbes are detected by specific neural circuits, which in turn help coordinate protective immune responses and the intestine’s recovery. These observations reveal a new layer of communication between the body and brain, with potential implications for the management of inflammatory diseases and infections, as well as early diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Dr. Mucida received his undergraduate degree from the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil, and his Ph.D. jointly from the University of São Paulo and New York University. After postdoctoral studies at the La Jolla Institute in California, he joined The Rockefeller University in 2010 and was appointed a professor with tenure and an HHMI Investigator in 2021. The Mucida lab studies how the immune system associated with the intestinal inner membrane can protect against infection without jeopardizing its tolerance to food, other harmless substances, and commensal microbes—research that is contributing to our understanding of inflammatory bowel diseases, food allergies, and colorectal cancer.

Dr. Mucida’s professional honors include a Career Development Award from the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, a Young Investigator Award from the Society for Mucosal Immunology, and an NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award.