Maayan Levy, Ph.D.

Research

The Levy lab focuses on the biology of intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) and their role in treating multifactorial human disease. IECs form a thin layer of individual cells separating the extremely distinct milieus of the gastrointestinal lumen and the mucosal lamina propria. The interconnectedness of the gastrointestinal tract with other organs is at the core of many aspects of physiology and disease. Most research on IECs has been dedicated to understanding the external influences—e.g., dietary and microbial molecules—and their role in intestinal pathologies. However, accumulating evidence shows that considering only environmental factors is insufficient to explain the complex etiology of IEC-dependent disease. How internal factors derived from different organ systems contribute to IEC biology and intestinal inflammation remains almost entirely unclear. The Levy lab will explore the internal—and particularly brain-derived—factors that influence the biology of IECs. The discovery of mechanisms by which IECs sense the state of the body and its impact on disease pathophysiology will facilitate systematic exploration of body-IEC communication pathways and their amenability to therapeutic intervention.