Dr. David Artis

With a $7.5 million gift from the Friedman Family Foundation endowed by Stephen and Vice Chair Overseer Barbara Friedman, Weill Cornell Medicine has established an innovative cross-campus center dedicated to improving human health through research in the complex relationship between nutrition, inflammation and the development of disease.

Cells in the nervous system can “put the brakes” on the immune response to infections in the gut and lungs to prevent excessive inflammation, according to research by Weill Cornell Medicine scientists.

Nerve cells in the gut play a crucial role in the body’s ability to marshal an immune response to infection.