Kara Marshall is interested in how the brain senses mechanical forces within the body. The nervous system continuously monitors internal organs, a collection of senses called interoception, to control basic bodily functions like blood pressure, feeding, digestion, and urination. All of these processes rely partly on the detection of mechanical force for their varied roles: gastrointestinal stretch halts eating, and bladder stretch indicates the need to find a bathroom. The Marshall lab aims to understand the molecules and cell types that enable these important internal senses to drive physiology and behavior, in both health and disease.