[8] Because excessive TNF production damages tissues in the body, it was the basis for the discovery and development of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs for arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.

[10][11][12] In 2007 he co-founded a company called SetPoint Medical which aimed to develop vagus nerve stimulation devices to treat autoimmune diseases.

[10] Vagus nerve stimulation has successfully blocked inflammation in clinical trials of rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.

[14] The Tracey lab mapped the inflammatory reflex using genetic, immunological, and bioelectronic tools to define the molecular and neuroscience mechanisms.

[15] In May 2018, Tracey's team was first to decode specific signals that the nervous system uses to communicate immune status and alert the brain to inflammation.

[17] In November 2020, they reported that neurons in the brainstem dorsal motor nucleus (DMN) of the vagus nerve transmit signals to the celiac-superior mesenteric ganglia in the abdomen.