Gut-brain communication is essential for processes such as digestion, satiety, and nausea. Alejandro López-Cruz, a scientist and gastroenterology fellow, is using systems neuroscience approaches to study how nutritional and aversive signals from the gut and the rest of the body are detected in the brainstem to regulate feeding, gut motility, and nausea. A better understanding of the mechanisms that regulate these processes will ultimately lead to the development of targeted therapies for disorders such as obesity.