Talk by Prof. Zachary Knight, University of California, San Francisco, USA

The passage of food through the alimentary canal generates a series of feedback signals that are sensed by the brain and used to control behavior. Many of these signals converge on the caudal brainstem, which contains the key neural circuits that drive meal termination.I will describe our work investigating the dynamics and function of these circuits during ingestion. A central theme is that these circuits integrate layers of signals from the mouth and gut, both during ingestion and over longer timescales through learning.