On Tuesday December 15, 2015 COPT fellows Allison Doub and Kameron Moding and COPT co-program director Dr. Kathleen Keller visited the Monnell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, PA.
Throughout the day, students and Dr. Keller enjoyed meeting with numerous research scientists and touring the lab of Dr. Julie Mennella. In the afternoon, Dr. Keller presented a seminar entitled, “Brain and behavioral mechanisms of the portion size effect in children.” This talk covered completed and on-going research projects investigating why some children increase their calorie intake as portion size increases. Understanding more about these mechanisms could inform interventions that help support children in navigating food environments that often contain portion sizes that are larger than a recommended serving.
The students enjoyed talking with faculty and current post-docs to learn about the center’s approach to mentoring, the development of early career grant proposals, and ensuring high quality research is conducted under various funding streams. Overall, it was an informative day learning about research conducted within this specialized center.