Continuous bidirectional communication and coordinated regulation between the brain and the body are essential for physiological homeostasis. The molecular sensors, neural pathways, and regulatory systems that support this communication constitute the body’s natural “brain-body interfaces.” These interfaces encompass the detection and input of bodily signals, their decoding and integration by the nervous system, and regulatory outputs through neural and neuroendocrine pathways. Dysfunction of these interfaces can impair normal physiological regulation and contribute to disease onset and progression. Understanding how they work offers new opportunities to regulate organ function through the nervous system.

Our laboratory pursues two interconnected research directions. The first is the discovery and mechanistic characterization of natural brain-body interfaces, addressing how the body and the brain communicate. With a focus on visceral sensation and mechanotransduction, we identify key molecular sensors and neuronal subpopulations, investigate how bodily signals are detected, transmitted, and integrated to guide physiological regulation, and determine how these mechanisms contribute to respiratory control, cardiovascular function, feeding behavior, and related diseases. The second is the development of artificial brain-body interfaces and targeted therapeutics, addressing how to access brain-body communication pathways to regulate organ function. Guided by the working principles of natural brain-body interfaces, we aim to integrate joint monitoring of brain activity and bodily physiological states, brain-body signal decoding, and neuromodulatory outputs to develop closed-loop artificial brain-body interfaces for coordinated regulation of the brain and body. In parallel, we screen and functionally validate drug candidates that target key molecular sensors and their regulatory mechanisms. Through these technological and pharmacological approaches, we seek to translate basic discoveries into therapeutic interventions.

Our work has been published in Neuron, Circulation Research, Advanced Science, and Cell Reports, with Dr. Tang serving as corresponding or co-corresponding author. Our research has been supported by multiple national and international programs, including the General Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC; two grants, 2022–2025 and 2027–2030, principal investigator); the NSFC Innovative Research Group Program, Type A (2026–2030, core team member); the National Key R&D Program of China (2024–2027, subproject leader); the STI2030 Major Project on Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence (2021–2026, core team member); and the Novo Nordisk ValidatioNN Award (2025–2026, principal investigator).