A researcher in the Michigan State University College of Engineering will use a National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early CAREER Award to develop bioelectric tools to diagnose and treat digestive and neurological disorders.

Jinxing Li, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Quantitative Health Science & Engineering, received a five-year, $500,000 grant to advance the monitoring of gastrointestinal physiology using soft bioelectronics.

NSF CAREER Awards support early-career faculty members who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization. They are among NSF’s most prestigious national honors.

“The gut is widely regarded as the human 'second brain' due to its abundant neurons, its bidirectional communication with the brain, and its ability to produce a lot of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin that can influence our mood, appetite, sleep, and so on,” Li said.

“The complex interplay between the gut’s biochemistry and biomechanics constitutes the fundamental physiology of the gastrointestinal system. Studying the complicated inter-regulation of soft, stretchy, long, and twisting organs - that have a variety of motility patterns - has been a long-standing challenge.”