Junyi Guo
- Email: nrms3399@leeds.ac.uk
- Thesis title: Characterising the functional relationships between whole-body and tissue-organ composition and components of energy expenditure following dietary weight loss.
- Supervisors: Professor James Stubbs, Dr Kristine Beaulieu, Dr Mark Hopkins, Dr Jia Jiet Lim
Profile
I am a postgraduate researcher at the University of Leeds, School of Psychology, Appetite Control and Energy Balance Research Group. I also work closely with the School of Food Science and Nutrition on my PhD project, Examining the Mechanisms that Underlie the Biological Drive to Eat in Humans: The EMBED Study. My particular focus in the project is to investigate changes in body composition and energy balance after energy restriction diets.
I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in BSc Nutrition and Medical Sciences at University College London (2023), and my Master’s degree in MRes Clinical Research (Human Nutrition) at Imperial College London (2024). With a background in nutrition, I am passionate about translating the scientific concepts of nutrition into practical applications to benefit the public.
Research interests
My research interests mainly focus on how changes in body composition at both whole-body and tissue-organ levels impact energy expenditure during and after energy restrictions. For my PhD project, Examining the Mechanisms that Underlie the Biological Drive to Eat in Humans: The EMBED Study, I would like to quantify the relative contributions of fat mass, fat-free mass, skeletal muscle, and metabolically active organs (e.g., liver, kidneys, heart, brain) to overall weight loss. Further, I would like to investigate the factors that influence individual variability in these tissue-specific changes, particularly baseline biological characteristics and hormonal profiles.
My project also involves understanding how resting metabolic rate and adaptive thermogenesis are predicted by including detailed measurements of muscle and organ mass. I would like to explore how losing muscle and organ tissue affects the body's overall energy expenditure. My goal is to better understand how these tissue-specific losses influence the whole-body metabolism, which could help develop personalised strategies to prevent weight regain.
Qualifications
- MRes, Clinical Research in Human Nutrition, Imperial College London
- BSc, Nutrition and Medical Sciences, University College London
Research groups and institutes
- Appetite control and energy balance