Understanding how the brain causes sickness behaviors
Elucidating Neural Mechanisms Underlying Sickness Behaviors
This research aims to discover how our brains create the feelings of sickness, like tiredness or not wanting to socialize, when we have an infection or inflammation.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Cambridge, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11128742 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
When you get sick, your body often responds with behaviors like feeling tired, not wanting to eat, or avoiding others. These "sickness behaviors" are thought to help your body fight off illness and save energy. However, we don't fully understand how these behaviors start in the brain. This project looks for the specific brain areas and signals that connect your immune system to your nervous system, focusing on how immune signals like IL-1β might directly affect brain cells to cause these feelings.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Patients experiencing significant sickness behaviors due to infection or inflammation could potentially benefit from future treatments developed from this foundational understanding.
Not a fit: Patients whose sickness behaviors are not related to immune system activation or specific neural pathways being studied may not directly benefit from this particular research.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could lead to new ways to help patients manage the uncomfortable symptoms of sickness caused by infections or inflammation.
How similar studies have performed: While the exact neural mechanisms are largely unexplored, there is growing evidence that immune signaling molecules can act on brain cells to influence behavior.
Where this research is happening
Cambridge, United States
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology — Cambridge, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Choi, Gloria — Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Study coordinator: Choi, Gloria
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.