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Dr. Diego Bohórquez, PhD

The Gut-Brain Connection and Neuropods

Dr. Bohórquez, an Associate Professor of Medicine and Neurobiology at Duke University, is a pioneer and leader in the field of gut-brain biology. Dr. Bohorquez is a gut-brain neuroscientist who focuses on how the brain perceives what the gut feels, how food in the intestine is sensed by the body, and how a sensory signal from a nutrient is transformed into an electrical signal that alters behavior.

His journey into this emerging field of neurobiology commenced with the groundbreaking discovery of synapses in enteroendocrine neuropod cells (Bohórquez et al., J. Clin. Invest., 2015). This discovery

unveiled a sensory neuroepithelial circuit in the gut, akin to that for taste perception in the tongue, gaining rapid recognition in publications such as Nature, the TED ideas blog, and The New Yorker.

Dr. Bohórquez’s team achieved a significant milestone in 2018, by revealing that gut neuropods synapse with vagal neurons, enabling the rapid transmission of sensory cues from nutrients to the brain in mere milliseconds (Kaelberer et al., Science, 2018). Moreover, through the development of novel technologies for studying neural circuits in visceral organs, his team made the groundbreaking observation that animals rely on gut neuropods to distinguish and preferentially consume sugar over sweeteners (Buchanan et al., Nat. Neurosci., 2022). These findings have ushered in a new era in the exploration of how visceral sensations influence appetite, choices, mood, and motivations.

In 2025, Dr. Bohórquez was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Joe Biden, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on outstanding early-career scientists and engineers.

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