My mentor Diego Bohorquez and I have been working together every day since RSP started. In attempt to understand the role of different enteroendocrine cells on processes in the gut, such as nutrient absorption and communication with the nervous system, we have created mini-guts and stained slides of parts of mice guts to find the structure of these cells.  We have found that they have axon-like appendages, so we are now in the processes of proposing a new project that will explore the complexities of PYY cells (a type of enteroendocrine cell) in its communication with the nervous system.  We hypothesize that these cells act much like neurons in the brain.  Our goal is to understand how enteroendocrine cells, in particular the L cell (PYY), exchange molecular information with enteric neurons. We recently developed a transgenic mouse model in which the PYY promoter drives the expression of enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP).  The anatomy of L cell processes resembles a neuronal axon that ends in synaptic-like buttons. We hope to determine the growth regulation of the L cell basal process and its role in PYY secretion. Our belief is that the L cell basal process is nurtured by specific proteins derived from enteric glia and functions as a pseudo-axon.  Using this information, we can implicate it to real-life problems like obesity to further understand its complexities for possible future treatments.