Rate My Professor Sally Eldeghaidy

Her research utilizes functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate neural mechanisms underlying food intake, choice, and consumption, with a focus on sensory-brain-gut interactions regulating appetite and satiety. She examines alterations in the gut-brain axis in clinical populations, including those with type 2 diabetes, obesity, irritable bowel syndrome, and inflammatory bowel disease. Key research areas encompass protein digestion comparing in vitro and in vivo human models, neural pathways for oral and intestinal sweet sensing in type 2 diabetes, brain perception of food stimuli such as taste, texture, aroma, and visuals, and the impact of taste phenotype and genotype on food perception, preference, and choice. She develops advanced MRI methods for simultaneous brain and gut imaging to elucidate physiological mechanisms of the gut-brain axis. Notable publications include 'Mechanisms of umami taste perception: From molecular level to brain imaging' (2021), 'The cortical response to the oral perception of fat emulsions and the effect of taster status' (2011, Journal of Neurophysiology), 'Prior consumption of a fat meal in healthy adults modulates the brain's response to fat' (2016, Journal of Nutrition), 'Thermal taster status: Evidence of cross-modal integration' (2016, Human Brain Mapping), and 'Mapping brain activity of gut-brain signaling to appetite and satiety in healthy adults: A systematic review and functional neuroimaging meta-analysis' (2022). Her contributions advance nutritional neuroimaging and understanding of eating behaviors.