Lisa Eckel

Lisa Eckel serves as Professor and Director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience within the Department of Psychology at Florida State University, where her research centers on neural and physiological mechanisms governing ingestive behavior with emphasis on hormonal regulation and sex differences.

Education

• University of Western Ontario, 1996

Research Focus

Dr. Eckel's work spans:

• Physiological and neural control of ingestive behavior
• Gonadal hormone effects on food intake and body weight
• Activity-based anorexia modeling
• Obesity mechanisms
• Sex-specific behavioral differences
• Conditioned taste aversion learning

Her laboratory currently investigates estradiol's regulatory mechanisms in female rodent feeding behavior through integrated behavioral, physiological, and molecular approaches, while concurrently examining neuropeptide dynamics in activity-based anorexia models to identify behavioral risk predictors.

Publication Trends

Analysis of her 2012-2019 publications reveals sustained investigation into neuroendocrine feeding regulation, with increasing emphasis on sex-specific mechanisms (particularly estrogen receptor pathways), translational models of eating disorders, and interdisciplinary integration of pharmacology, molecular neuroscience, and behavioral physiology to address obesity and anorexia nervosa pathophysiology.

Laboratory Operations

Her research group employs rodent models to dissect genetic/biological risk factors for anorexia and obesity, characterize sex differences in diet-induced obesity, and elucidate estradiol's neural modulation of food intake and taste-guided dietary selection, maintaining active recruitment for graduate researchers through 2026.