Graduate Student
Rutgers University
My interests are centered around how obesity and the endocannabinoid system affect eating behavior, namely, obesogenic food intake. Obesity has been correlated with a decrease in taste sensitivity in rodents and humans, suggesting that high adiposity may be responsible for impairing nutrient detection. My preliminary work has also shown a positive correlation between adiposity and fatty frosting liking in both mice and humans. The combination of taste insensitivity with increased hedonic reward for fatty, palatable food can lead to greater consumption of calorically dense food, and thus lead to weight gain. I will continue to unravel the mechanisms underlying the relationships between obesity, taste and eating behavior.