Investigations of the gut/brain axis

We are investigating the role of oro-nasal and gastrointestinal signalling on the perception of food, and the sense of satiety. This project involves fMRI of brain function, sensory science, psychological and behavioural measurements and measurements of gastrointestinal physiology (in particular using MRI).

This work is currently funded by

• BBSRC
• Unilever Food Research Centre (Vlaardingen, Netherlands) and Unilever Corporate Research (Collworth, UK).

Members of the group

• Dr. Johanneke Busch, Unilever UFHRI The Netherlands Sally Eldeghaidy, PhD Student SPMMRC
• Dr Sue Francis, SPMMRC
• Kay Head, Research Assistant SPMMRC
• Dr Tracey Hollowood, Flavour Research Group, Sutton Bonington
• Dr Joanne Hort, Flavour Research Group, Sutton Bonington
• Prof Penny Gowland, SPMMRC
• Dr Luca Marciani, WDDC and SPMMRC
• Prof Robin Spiller, WDDC
• Dr Jason Stokes, Unilever Corporate Research UK
• Prof Andy Taylor, Flavour Research Group, Sutton Bonington
• Chi Zhang, PhD student Flavour Research Group, Sutton Bonington

References

1. L Marciani et al., fMRI assessment of the cortical representation of oral viscosity, submitted to NeuroReport
2. L Marciani et al., Improved methods for fMRI studies of combined taste and aroma stimuli. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, in press.
3. O'Doherty J, et al. Representation of pleasant and aversive taste in the human brain. J Neurophysiol, 85: 1315-21, 2001.
4. O'Doherty J, et al. Sensory-specific satiety-related olfactory activation of the human OFC. Neuroreport, 11: 893-7, 2000.
5. Francis S, et al. The representation of pleasant touch in the brain and its relationship with taste and olfactory areas. Neuroreport, 10: 453-9, 1999.

Abstracts

1. J Pfeiffer et al., Multi-disciplinary studies of multi-modal taste and aroma interactions. 2nd European Conference on Sensory Consumer Science of Food and Beverages, The Hague, 2006.
2. SF Eldeghaidy et al., fMRI of Taste and Aroma Associations, Proceedings 14th ISMRM, Seattle 2006, p. 1124.
3. Celis B et al., Cortical response to oral viscosity. Proceedings 13th ISMRM, Miami 2005, p. 445.
4. Marciani L et al., Towards fMRI of physiological taste and aroma perception. Proceedings 13th ISMRM, Miami 2005, p. 572.