Information about my research lab and research team can also be found on Texas Tech University’s website.
I serve as the Director of the Energy Balance & Body Composition Laboratory at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. The major interests of my lab group are the critical evaluation of body composition assessment techniques, energy balance manipulations ranging from intermittent fasting to overfeeding, and sports nutrition strategies to improve performance and body composition.
Over 30 students have been involved in our lab over the past seven years. These individuals have gone on to pursue a variety of careers, including academic research, medicine, physical therapy, clinical nutrition, fitness professions, and more.
Capabilities
The primary capabilities of my laboratory are advanced body composition assessment and metabolic assessments. Additional facilities for evaluating muscular performance and implementing training programs are located in adjacent laboratories.
The specific capabilities of my laboratory are:
- Producing molecular-level multi-compartment model body composition models
- Segmental body composition analysis
- Lean soft tissue or fat-free mass
- Fat mass
- Bone mineral content
- Muscle cross-sectional area, thickness, and quality
- Visceral fat estimation
- Fluid analysis
- Total body water
- Intracellular water
- Extracellular water
- Automated anthropometric analysis
- Total and segmental volumes
- Circumferences and lengths of virtually any body segment
- Bioelectrical parameter analysis
- Resistance, reactance, and impedance
- Phase angle
- Resting metabolic rate assessment
- Substrate oxidation assessment
Equipment
- Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA)
- GE Lunar Prodigy
- GE iDXA (located in adjacent laboratory)
- Air displacement plethysmography
- Cosmed Bod Pod
- Bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS)
- Impedimed SFB7
- Multi-frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis (MFBIA) with segmental body composition capabilities
- Seca mBCA 514/515
- InBody 770
- Single-frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis (SFBIA) with segmental body composition capabilities
- RJL Quantum V
- 3-dimensional optical scanners
- SizeStream SS20
- Fit3D ProScanner
- Styku S100
- Naked Labs scanner
- Ultrasonography (located in adjacent laboratory)
- Electrical impedance myography (EIM)
- Skulpt Chisel
- Indirect calorimetry
- ParvoMedics TrueOne 2400
- Cosmed FitMate WM
- Body mass scales
- Calibrated scale (modified Tanita, Corp. Model BWB-627-A)
- Standard Seca body mass scale with stadiometer
- Ten computer workstations for data processing/analysis
- Padded tables for supine assessments