Researcher investigating the neural basis of behaviour

Have you ever been told to “listen to your gut” or made a decision based on a “gut feeling?”

Gut-brain communication and its influence on behaviour may seem intuitive, but it has a scientific basis that, until recently hasn’t received much attention. 

Dr. Karolina Skibicka, PhD, a professor in the Dept. of Physiology and Pharmacology at the Cumming School of Medicine and a new member of the Libin Cardiovascular Institute, is changing that. Her research focuses on the neural basis of gut-initiated control of behaviour from a mechanistic standpoint. 

“We are interested in how gut-brain communication influences behaviours and mental health,” she says.

Skibicka is particularly interested in GLP-1, a hormone that plays a key role in regulating appetite, digestion and blood sugar levels that is being used to treat conditions like Type 2 diabetes and obesity and to improve cardiovascular health, under names that are becoming more familiar like Ozempic and Mounjaro.  

Skibicka has been part of the GLP-1 research community for more than 20 years. She and her team have made several important research breakthroughs in this area, including that GLP-1 can curb alcohol and food cravings by influencing the brain’s reward circuit. 

“This can have a large impact on an individual’s health, including their cardiovascular and metabolic health,” she says, adding it’s exciting being part of the GLP-1 research community and seeing it save lives.

Skibicka’s team also investigates GLP-1’s impact on emotionality and mental health conditions like anxiety and depression. She and her team were the first to show that GLP-1 reacts with serotonin, important in the treatment of depression and anxiety. 

“It has become clear that that the neural circuits control not only food-related behaviours but also so much more,” says Skibicka. “We have learned that GLP-1 may have psychiatric benefits.”

Sex differences are a big part of Skibicka’s work. In fact, another breakthrough discovery was that GLP-1 medications are more effective in reducing cravings in women, due to the fact that estrogen enhances their therapeutic value.

Background and career

As a young child growing up in Sweden, Skibicka exhibited a strong curiosity for the natural world. 

“I was that kid collecting all sorts of things and trying to feed them and make them grow,” she says. “My first business was breeding and selling stick insects. I learned a great deal about biology in the process.” 

Skibicka’s interest continued from there. She attended a high school that specialized in biology and chemistry and chose to study biology for her undergrad degree at the University of South Florida, later broadening her scope to include biochemistry. 

She pursued a PhD in neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in neuroendocrinology at the Sahlgrenska Academy in Sweden, working in a lab that specialized in understanding the neurocircuitry behind feeding behaviours. 

After postdoctoral fellowship, Skibicka accepted a faculty position at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, where she worked for more than a decade, continuing in this role while also accepting a position at Penn State University in the United States. She kept an active lab in both universities before being recruited to the University of Calgary in the summer of 2025. 

“I am very pleased to be in Calgary because there is a strong research program here and very prominent investigators that have really pioneered gut and brain research,” says Skibicka. “It felt like a perfect fit.” 

Skibicka says brain-gut communication and its impact on what, when and how much we eat as well as our emotions is one of the poorest known areas of neuroscience. She enjoys being on the cutting edge of science. 

“I like that my research is on the edge, that I needed to push through and convince people of its importance,” she says. 

According to Skibicka, there is still much to learn in this area, including about the long-term impacts of GLP-1 therapies and the consequences of cycling on and off these drugs.

For example, GLP-1 and its analogues increases heart rate, yet little is known about how that might impact the cardiovascular system over time. 

Skibicka is looking for potential collaborators to help advance her understanding of the impact of obesity and GLP-1 therapeutics on the cardiovascular system. Researchers can connect with her at Karolina.skibicka@ucalgary.ca.

Dr. Skibicka is a professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology in the Cumming School of Medicine. She holds the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Brain Circuits of Interoception. In addition to being a member of the Libin Cardiovascular Institute, she is a member of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and its Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education.