Laboratory for Eating Behaviors and Weight Management

The Laboratory for Eating Behaviors and Weight Management conducts clinical studies on lifestyle impacts, focusing on body weight, type 2 diabetes risk, and cardio-metabolic health through controlled diets and behavioral trials.

The Laboratory for Eating Behaviors and Weight Management is located on the Virginia Tech Blacksburg main campus in Wallace Hall. We conduct clinical and behavioral research investigating the impact of lifestyle behaviors, specifically diet and physical activity, on body weight, type 2 diabetes risk, and cardio-metabolic health. Research capabilities include the design and delivery of controlled diets for laboratory-based studies, behavioral intervention trials, and dietary assessment.

The clinical research space encompasses research Dining Laboratory area and a Metabolic Kitchen, a research dietitian computer workstation, reach-in freezers, a refrigerator for storing study foods and a large commercial reach-in refrigerator for storing participant meals, dry storage areas, food preparation appliances, and scales for weighing study foods.

The Dining Laboratory area contains five tables and 15 chairs for study participant seating/meal consumption. There is an additional 250 sq ft clinical research space for clinical and behavioral research studies that is equipped with stadiometers, scales, an area for completing questionnaires, a private room for measuring blood pressure and body weight/height, and a file storage area. Research staff workstations are also available within this space. A DEXA and biochemical/wetlab space are located down the hall from these facilities.

Principal Investigator