Ivan de Araujo studied philosophy at the University of Brasilia, followed by postgraduate studies in the field of artificial intelligence at the University of Edinburgh. He received his PhD in medical physiology and imaging from the University of Oxford. As a postdoctoral researcher in neurobiology at Duke University Medical Center, he identified brain neural networks that interact with the digestive tract. From 2007 to 2018, he directed the Neurobiology of Feeding Laboratory at Pierce Labs (Yale University) before moving to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in August 2018. Since May 2023, Ivan has been Director of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics and a Scientific Member of the Max Planck Society.
Ivan and his team want to understand how the numerous processes in the human body are recorded and controlled by the brain and how these in turn influence neuronal processing. Among other things, the researchers are investigating the vagus nerve, which plays a crucial role in communication between the brain and the body, as well as the neuronal basis of hunting behavior in mice.
