Inaugural Lecture: Professor Peng Du

The bioelectrical rhythm of the gut tells us much information about how it behaves in health and disease. However, to unlock its potential both as a diagnostic indicator and a treatment target has been a journey of over a century in the making. Today, due to advances in high-resolution mapping and unique preclinical experimental models we are on the cusp of translating gut electrophysiology to deliver actual impact.

Research studies conducted by Professor Du and colleagues over the past twenty years have led to improved ability to record and manipulate gut functions. This lecture will present the team’s journey from preclinical research to delivering clinical impact, with a highlight of the recent understanding of how the gut-brain axis plays an integrated role in diseases beyond the gut.
Professor Du is the Associate Director of Research at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute and a member of the Gastrointestinal Motility Research group. The group collaborates closely with colleagues at the Faculty of Science and FHMS to bring about a highly transdisciplinary approach to gut research.