Seminar Speaker – Julio Ayala, Ph.D.

Research in the Ayala lab focuses on gut‐brain interactions that play a role in the maintenance of energy balance. Specifically, our lab is interested in defining how the gut hormone glucagon‐like peptide‐1 (Glp1) and therapeutic Glp1 receptor (Glp1r) agonists engage the central nervous system to regulate caloric intake and expenditure. We combine targeted genetic and pharmacological interventions with state‐of‐the‐art in vivo metabolic phenotyping approaches to elucidate brain regions and molecular mechanisms that mediate the effects of Glp1r agonists on energy balance as well as reward and motivated behaviors. These approaches are being leveraged towards the design of more effective Glp1‐based drugs for the treatments of type 2 diabetes and obesity.