Olalla Prado-Nóvoa

Track
Research Frontiers

Faculty Mentor
Kevin Davy
Professor of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise

Research Focus
During the following two years I will focus on investigating the relationship between physical activity and our daily energy demands across a large range of physical activity levels from sedentary individuals to ultra-endurance athletes. This research will fill an important gap in the field of human energetics and obesity investigations, because the classic view that undertaking more physical activity will increase the calories expended in a day may be incorrect. Several physiological and behavioral adaptations may occur when physical activity is increased, maintaining our daily energy expenditure in a very concrete frame. These adaptations to physical activity demands will be evaluated in this project through a cross-sectional and an intervention study. The findings will have implications to integrative physiology/metabolism and obesity in humans but also for ecology and evolutionary biology because metabolic ceilings might limit foraging activity, reproductive efforts and the ability to withstand cold in a range of species.

Why did you choose to pursue postdoctoral training at Virginia Tech?
The department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise (HNFE) has all the necessary resources to pursue successful postdoctoral training. Not only the facilities are an asset, like the Human Integrative Physiology Lab, but especially the outstanding researchers specializing in physical activity and human metabolism. All the faculty members have a wide and exceptional trajectory of mentoring undergrad, grad students, and postdoctoral fellows, and conducting innovative investigations with gold standard techniques. Their interest in using new approaches to the study of human metabolism, such as the evolutionary perspective, is a unique opportunity for my career development and to become an independent scientist.

What are you most looking forward to as you begin in this fellowship at Virginia Tech?
I can’t wait to start with the project developed for the fellowship as well as get involved in the other studies carried out at the Human Integrative Physiology Lab. Teaching is also a great motivation for me, so I am looking forward to it.