Christopher A. Zimmerman

Christopher A. Zimmerman, PhD

Academic Information

Departments Primary - Neurobiology

Research Statement

The Neurobiology of Interoception

The Zimmerman lab studies how the brain and body communicate with each other, with a focus on understanding how feedback signals from the internal organs influence learning and memory systems in the brain.

Our research brings together new tools and perspectives — from systems and computational neuroscience, machine learning, physiology, genomics, and biochemistry — with the goal of understanding the fundamental principles that govern body–brain communication. We are especially interested in discovering how sensory signals from the internal organs are represented in the brain and how these interoceptive representations contribute to cognitive processes like reward, motivation, learning, and memory. Our lab uses the gut–brain axis and feeding behavior as a powerful model system (with clinical relevance to obesity and eating disorders) for investigating these questions.

Visit our lab website for more information: zimmerman-lab.org

Education History

Undergraduate University of Pittsburgh
 BS
Doctoral Training University of California San Francisco
 PhD
Postdoctoral Fellowship Princeton University
 Postdoctoral Fellow

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Leib DE, Zimmerman CA, Poormoghaddam A, Huey EL, Ahn JS, Lin YC, Tan CL, Chen Y, Knight Z (2017). The forebrain thirst circuit drives drinking through negative reinforcement. Neuron, 96(6), 1272¿1281. (Read full article)
  2. Zimmerman CA, Lin YC, Leib DE, Guo L, Huey EL, Daly GE, Chen Y, Knight Z (2016). Thirst neurons anticipate the homeostatic consequences of eating and drinking. Nature, 537(7622), 680¿684. (Read full article)
  3. Pan-Vazquez A, Zimmerman CA, McMannon B, Fabre JMJ, Louka M, Jia T, Sagiv Y, West SJ, Faulkner M, International Brain Laboratory, Dayan P, Witten I (2025). VTA dopamine neuron activity produces spatially organized value representations. bioRxiv, (Read full article)
  4. Zimmerman CA, Huey EL, Ahn JS, Beutler LR, Tan CL, Kosar S, Bai L, Chen Y, Corpuz TV, Madisen L, Zeng H, Knight Z (2019). A gut-to-brain signal of fluid osmolarity controls thirst satiation. Nature, 568(7750), 98¿102. (Read full article)
  5. Zimmerman CA, Bolkan SS, Pan-Vazquez A, Wu B, Keppler EF, Meares-Garcia JB, Guthman EM, Fetcho RN, McMannon B, Lee J, Hoag AT, Lynch LA, Janarthanan SR, López Luna JF, Bondy AG, Falkner AL, Wang SS, Witten I (2025). A neural mechanism for learning from delayed postingestive feedback. Nature, 642(8068), 700¿709. (Read full article)
  6. Zhukovskaya A, Zimmerman CA, Willmore L, Pan-Vazquez A, Janarthanan SR, Lynch LA, Falkner AL, Witten I (2024). Heightened lateral habenula activity during stress produces brainwide and behavioral substrates of susceptibility. Neuron, 112(23), 3940¿3956. (Read full article)

Review

  1. Zimmerman C (2022). Neuroscience: Secretin excites the thirst circuit. Current Biology, 32(23), R1318¿R1320. (Read full article)
  2. Zimmerman C (2020). The origins of thirst. Science, 370(6512), 45¿46. (Read full article)
  3. Zimmerman CA, Knight Z (2020). Layers of signals that regulate appetite. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 64, 79¿88. (Read full article)
  4. Zimmerman CA, Leib DE, Knight Z (2017). Neural circuits underlying thirst and fluid homeostasis. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 18(8), 459¿469. (Read full article)