Animals can exhibit hunger for not only calories but also specific nutrients, which energize behaviors to search for and ingest particular types of food in response to internal nutritional deficiency. Liu lab aims to understand the neurobiological basis of nutrient-specific appetite, and investigate how does hunger for specific nutrients interact with each other to ensure that a balanced diet is consumed. To this end, the lab will harness the power of Drosophila model system and employ a multidisciplinary approach including large-scale genetic and behavioral analyses, immunohistochemistry, functional imaging, and patch-clamp electrophysiology. These studies will shed light on the fundamental principles for the organization and modulation of motivated behaviors. Given the global obesity epidemic, illuminating the regulation of food choice guided by nutrient specific appetite may facilitate the development of novel therapeutic treatments for obesity.