We support biobehavioral research approaches to increase knowledge and improve health care outcomes.
In the School of Nursing, our biobehavioral research focuses on health promotion and improving chronic disease management and prevention.
Our Biobehavioral Lab is one of our centers of excellence focused on salivary science and biobanking. It serves as a one-stop shop for students and researchers for designing and conducting research studies involving biobehavioral methods.
The laboratory consists of a wet lab and a behavioral suite. The wet lab is classified as a Biosafety Level 2 facility by the UT Health San Antonio Environmental Health and Safety Department. It has the capacity to conduct assays involving saliva and blood. Several freezers are storing various biological samples from local and national studies.
The laboratory also has resources for various physical assessments including, but not limited to:
It also has resources for neuropsychological testing including, but not limited to the following:
The laboratory has an active collaboration with LabCorp to conduct assays that cannot be done in-house.
For additional information and collaboration inquiries, please contact Dr. Darpan Patel at pateld7@uthscsa.edu
Exercise, diet, lifestyle and interactions do more for people than produce outwardly physical results. Our research is discovering deeper benefits to the physiology of the body and how we can improve health and wellness.
Darpan Patel, PhD
Grant: University of Texas Adult Clinical Center, NIH Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC).
Goal: The purpose of the MoTrPAC is to catalyze the identification and mapping of molecular and cellular transducers underlying the physiological effects of physical activity—essentially seeking to understand the physical impact of exercise on health.
Team: Patel lab
Grant: Mag-PCOR Muna Tayo: Building Capacity and Engagement among Filipino-American towards Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR) and Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER).
Goal: Build capacity and engage Filipino-Americans in PCOR and CER.
Team: Bluhm Lab
Grant: Maternal-Infant Interaction, Stress Reactivity, and Attunement (MIISA).
Goal: Determine maternal and infant saliva biomarkers, heart rate variability data, and behavior during maternal-infant interactions that influence stress and attunement in infants.
Team: Cleveland Lab
Grant: The Look AHEAD intervention for self-monitoring of behavioral lifestyle interventions (diet and activity) to prevent/delay frailty in community-dwelling older adults with type 2 diabetes.
Goal: Study the impact of 10 face-to-face group behavioral educational sessions on frailty phenotype and inflammatory markers.
Team: Jiwani Lab