Nilay Yapici, Ph.D.

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Nilay Yapici, Ph.D.
2017 Pew Biomedical Scholars
Title
Assistant Professor
Department
Neurobiology and Behavior
Institution
Cornell University
Address
215 Tower Road
Mudd Hall W263
City, State, ZIP
Ithaca, NY 02138
Phone
(646) 202-3557
Email
[email protected]
Website
http://www.yapicilab.com
Research field
Neuroscience
Award year
2017

Research

My lab studies the neural circuits that regulate hunger sensation and food intake. When we are hungry, we eat. But what produces the feeling of hunger—and why do we consume more after fasting than we do when we are full? As a postdoctoral fellow, I identified a dozen neurons that control how fruit flies respond to a meal. These neurons are activated in fasted flies as they ingest sugar water and decrease in activity when the flies become full. Now, using an array of techniques in genetics, engineering, neurophysiology, and behavior, I will identify the neurons that feed information to these “regulators of ingestion” and characterize the cellular and molecular connections that allow them to process information about hunger and satiety to induce feeding. Further, I will use advanced imaging methods to monitor the neural activity across the entire brain of flies, both hungry and sated, as they make decisions about food—work that could lead to new therapies for obesity and other eating disorders.

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