In pursuit of a new drug therapy to treat cholera, Dr Alessio Fasano made a discovery that would inadvertently change the landscape of gastrointestinal disease in modern medicine. In 2000, Dr Fasano uncovered the protein zonulin as a mechanism which negatively influences the regulation of the intestinal tight gap junctions, and thus provided credence to the notion of a "leaky gut".  In this podcast, Dr Fasano reveals the widespread clinical significance of zonulin, Coeliac disease and gluten sensitivity, as well as a myriad of disorders related to the ubiquitous nature of the zonulin protein, not just in the gut, but in diverse tissues throughout the body.