A research team from NYU School of Medicine and its Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine has received a research award through a new initiative by Pew Charitable Trusts, a NYU Langone Health release said.
The team of Robert Froemke and Dan Littman will share a $200,000 award spanning the next two years, the release said.
The Pew awards aims to initiate breakthroughs in biomedical research through collaboration of scientists that have previously received Pew funds. The Pew Foundation noted that the doctors will “explore the interface between neuroscience and immunology, using techniques from one system to investigate the other,” the release said.
Froemke is a neuroscientist whose focus is on the impact of brain chemicals on animal behavior, while Littman is an immunologist and has studied the possibility of intestinal bacteria as a trigger for autoimmune issues, the release said.
Together, the doctors will explore “how the neuronal sensing of gut microbes and intestinal function can alter an animal’s behavior ... ( which) could help map how information is relayed from the gut to the nervous system to promote recovery from illness,” the release said.
