Dr. Veronica Campanucci: Unraveling the Link Between Nerve Signals and Gut Symptoms 

For many, the first thing that comes to mind about cystic fibrosis (CF) is its impacts on the lungs. But for Dr. Veronica Campanucci, Associate Professor in the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan, it’s the gut that holds many unanswered questions and a surprising number of clues. With the support of Cystic Fibrosis Canada and the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation, Dr. Campanucci is exploring how nerves in the gut contribute to the digestive symptoms that affect so many people with CF.  

"Dr. Campanucci's innovative 'gut-on-a-chip' approach shows how Saskatchewan research is driving innovation, leading to more discoveries, deeper understanding, and improved care for people living with cystic fibrosis. Thank you to Cystic Fibrosis Canada for this important partnership.", said Patrick Odnokon, CEO, Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation. 

From Diabetes to Digestion 

Dr. Campanucci’s early research career focused on diabetes, until her lab was invited to collaborate on a CF research project using a rare, unique resource – CF pig tissues. Her work exploring the nervous system in this research animal sparked her deep interest in CF research.  

“We started to see strange nerve problems in the CF pig model,” she recalls. “The peripheral nerves – the ones that help control gut function – weren’t working properly. That’s when I knew we were onto something.” 

This nerve damage, called peripheral neuropathy, could help explain a wide range of gut symptoms that people with CF experience, such as constipation, bloating, and pain. 

One of the conditions Dr. Campanucci studies is gut dysmotility, which refers to problems with how the gut contracts to move the contents through the digestive system.  

“It’s like a traffic jam,” she explains. “For the gut to work, its muscles need to contract in waves. These waves are triggered by nerves. If the nerves aren’t sending the right signals, nothing moves properly.” 

What makes this even more complicated is the gut-brain axis – the deep connection between the gut’s own nervous system and the rest of the body’s nerves. In CF, that communication might be disrupted.  

Building a “Gut-on-a-chip” system for CF 

To better understand what’s going on, Dr. Campanucci’s lab built something remarkable: a miniaturized version of the gut in the lab called a “gut-on-a-chip”. The gut comprises various components, including the muscle layers, nerve cells within the gut, sensory nerve cells, and the epithelial lining, which can now be studied individually and in conjunction with the other components. This system allows her team to separate and test each part of the gut to see how it reacts – especially to treatments like Trikafta.  

“It’s a simplified gut, but with all the key pieces. We can now stimulate it, measure responses, and start pinpointing exactly where things go wrong in CF,” she explains. “Something we couldn’t do before.” 

Dr. Campanucci’s team is now working toward using other animal models and stem cells from people with CF. This would allow them to create specific versions of the gut system – a powerful tool for understanding why treatments like Trikafta help some people’s digestive symptoms, but not others. 

“Our goal is to identify what’s not working and why. Once we know that, we can start building better therapies – just like Trikafta was built to target the lungs.” 

While gut issues might not be life-threatening, they have a huge impact on quality of life that often go underappreciated.  

“You can’t live your life without a healthy gut,” she says. “And if we can understand why things go wrong, we can help improve quality of life.” 

Local contributions 

Dr. Campanucci’s team benefited from unique access to CF pig tissues through strong local collaborations and specialized resources at the University of Saskatchewan, which uniquely positions the university to manage the complexities associated with CF pig research effectively. Notably, the collaborators at the University of Saskatchewan remain the only ones in Canada to have conducted and published research using the CF pig model, with findings featured in leading scientific journals.  

“It’s been a gamble developing this system. But it’s working and it feels like we’re really contributing something new.” 

A “Gut” Feeling 

Gut complications in CF are common but haven’t always been the research priority. In earlier decades, the focus was on lung function. Now, as people with CF live longer, gut health has become a top concern for quality of life. 

Dr. Campanucci’s work is reshaping how the CF community thinks about gut health – not just as a side issue, but as a core part of living with CF. By uncovering the role of the nervous system, her research opens the door to treatments for digestive systems that affect so many people with CF.