Center for Human Health and Performance

Houses a wide variety of equipment that provides researchers with facilities in which they can: 

• Evaluate clinical markers of health: height, weight, cardio-metabolic function, strength, and blood/biopsy generated measures.
• Complete participant characterization: strength, metabolic capacity, cardiac function, body composition (bone, fat, muscle) – including separation of visceral and subcutaneous abdominal fat
• Conduct exercise intervention studies in a controlled setting. Participants can be closely monitored to ensure compliance to ensure precision in dose/response measures.
• Evaluate a wide range of health-related biomarkers in the core or utilize other IALS Cores for additional characterization

Designed and equipped for assessment of human movement (with and without robotic assistance) and the evaluation of wearable technologies that aim to quantify human motion. The Human Motion Lab is a large open space (38’ x 20’) with a 10’ ceiling and is located within the Center for Human Health and Performance. Having the Human Motion Lab located within the Center for Human Health and Performance allows us to conduct a wide variety of studies evaluating the effects and interactions of human motion with behavior, sleep, aerobic fitness, strength, body composition and muscle function.

A unique home-like setting where researchers are able to investigate human behavior for prolonged periods.

Measurements gathered from the instrumentation allow researchers to gain the information necessary for the calibration and/or validation of wearable activity monitors. Data generated can serve many research study designs, ranging from the development of the next generation of wearable and embedded monitoring devices to basic studies looking to objectively evaluate how individuals spend time in a natural setting.

One of only 26 such facilities worldwide, the UMass Room Calorimeter houses two whole room metabolic chambers.

The two chambers in Room Calorimeter differ in their capabilities. The smaller (92” x 48”) ‘flex’ chamber can be configured in either a low or high flow setting for the assessment of both resting or exercising metabolism.

The large calorimeter (160” x 131”) is configured for long duration stays during which individuals can receive meals or medications through pass through ports. This chamber houses a toilet, sink, bed, desk, TV (w/ Apple TV), Lode Valiant 2 Treadmill, and a two camera observational video system which allows researchers to encode the video with behavior data to gain in-depth understanding of the interactions between behavior and metabolic cost.