Using fruit flies as a research model, Tanja Godenschwege, Ph.D., is unraveling the mysterious connection of how a person's gut impacts their mood, their brain, their behavior and even the onset of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's.

“Most people think of the gut as ugly because they associate it with its final product,” said Godenschwege, professor, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. “But when you look closely, it's astonishingly beautiful.”

Godenschwege and several of her students recently earned accolades for images of their research submitted to the annual Art of Science, an initiative that highlights photographs and videography of research happening across the colleges at Florida Atlantic University.

“Our images show the elegance that can be found in science while also reminding us how important the proper communication between gut and brain is to human health,” Godenschwege said. “Miscommunication leads to obesity, diabetes, mood disorders and neurodegeneration.”

Godenschwege's winning image, titled Owls Having Guts, earned an honorable mention. Captured with a microscope, the image reveals the intricate structure of the fruit fly digestive system. Her students' entries reflected their emerging scientific skills.

Here is a look at some of her students' winning submissions:

For Godenschwege, her students' success is more meaningful than her own, she said.

“My students spend many hours learning and then executing tedious dissections of these tiny fruit flies to obtain these beautiful images,” she said. “Seeing them recognized for that hard work is incredibly rewarding. I'm proud of my honorable mention but watching my students succeed is even better.”