To advance the molecular understanding of obesity, Jais and colleagues set out to identify neuronal populations in mice that respond to being fed a calorie dense, highly palatable food. They identified prepronociceptin (PNOC)-expressing neurons in the hypothalamus that are activated upon acute high fat diet feeding and promote overconsumption. In this publication, HALO image analysis software was used for quantification of transgene expression in mouse neuronal tissue. Future studies on PNOC-expressing neurons may advance prevention and treatment of obesity and associated metabolic diseases.