MOLECULAR METABOLISM AND DISEASE
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biomedicine Faculty of Biology. University of Barcelona
Our research group is focused on the study of the molecular and physiological basis of control of energy metabolism, and how it relates to human pathologies. We study the molecular mechanisms of brown, beige and white adipocyte plasticity, as well as muscle and hepatic metabolism. Molecular actors conveying new metabolic and endocrine functions of cells, tissues and organs are identified and characterized. Identification of the signaling molecules determining cellular and organ cross-talk is a main research subject.
Using extensive analysis of cellular and preclinical experimental models, we identified ACBP, a regulatory protein that functions both intracellularly and as a secreted factor, as a negative regulator of brown fat activity. ACBP's influence on brown adipose tissue has significant implications for whole-body energy balance and systemic metabolism. This study is part of the PhD thesis research conducted by Albert Blasco in our laboratory. For access to article, see: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molmet.2025.102153
Nearly 350 people gathered at the Blanes Theater to attend the conference "Is Our Body Fat Really a Problem?" presented by Dr. Marta Giralt, as part of the introductory cycle of the Blanes University Extension Program, affiliated with the University of Girona. In this informative session, Dr. Marta Giralt shared the latest advancements in the pathophysiology of adipose tissue, aimed at the general public. A successful achievement in disseminating our research to the general public!
On the occasion of International Day of Women and Girls in Science, celebrated on February 11, the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) released its ranked list of the top 10,000 women scientists in Spain. We are proud to announce that Dr. Marta Giralt, co-leader of our research team, is ranked among the top 2% of the most influential Spanish scientists.
Marta Giralt delivered the lecture "Obesity and Climate Change" at the SEEDO/EASO Joint Conference in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The presentation highlighted the increasing recognition of global warming's contribution to the obesogenic environment, as well as the role of suppressed adaptive thermogenesis and reduced energy expenditure.
On January 16 and 17, 2025, the ADIPOBROAD meeting took place in Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona. ADIPOBROAD is a thematic research network supported by the Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities in Spain. This network is coordinated by our research group and brings together 12 research groups from Spain involved in various aspects of research on adipose tissue plasticity and its impact on health. The meeting included participation from all the network's groups and international guests, with more than 60 attendees. Multiple interdisciplinary and collaborative research areas in adipobiology were identified during the meeting.
Stanford University has created a publicly available database of highly cited scientists, providing separate data for career-long impact and for single-year impact. Prof. Francesc Villarroya is ranked among the top 2% of influential researchers in both metrics, while Prof. Marta Giralt is recognized in the recent impact ranking.
On September 10th, our research group met in a retreat at the Pedro i Pons Foundation facilities, a 16th century building owned by the University of Barcelona thanks to a donation from Dr. Agustí Pedro i Pons in the last century. There, the current research projects and the organizational programming of the laboratory for the next academic year were planned.
Dr. Joan Villarroya, member of our team and recently appointed associate professor in our University, was selected to present his recent research in the CIBERobn symposium held in Zaragoza the 11-12 June. Disturbances in adipose tissue autophagy were highlighted in relation to obesity-related pathology.
We proudly contributed (a selected presentation by Albert Mestres, PhD student at our team, participation of the lecturer Ruben Cereijo in a round table) in the successful first edition of Early Career Day organized by IBUB, with a fruitful participation of close to one hundred young researchers.
That meeting, held in Copenhagen the 27-31 May gathered worldwide international experts in adipose tissue plasticity. Albert Mestres, PhD, and Marion Peyrou, recently appointed with the prestigious "Ramon y Cajal" researcher position at the University of Barcelona, presented, together with the PI researcher Dr Marta Giralt, the last results of our team on brown adipose tissue signaling properties.
Francesc Villarroya was invited to present our novel findings on human brown adipose tissue adipokines (batokines) recently identified in our laboratory. ENDO2024 was the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in USA, held in Boston the 1-4 June, 2024.
Marion Peyrou, "Ramon y Calal" researcher, presented results on "Brown adipose tissue activation: a novel strategy to prevent/treat the hepatocarcinogenesis promoted by metabolic lipotoxicity" and Artur Navarro-Gascón, PhD student, presented his work "Meteorin-like regulates the acute phase post-myocardial infarction". Marion Peyrou was awarded with the best poster presentation. Congratulations!
Call addressed to candidates interested in developing a PhD Thesis in a highly
competitive international team on the characterization of new molecular actors
involved in adipose tissue plasticity and their role in metabolic diseases (diabetes,
obesity,..) and aging. See webpage: www.tamweb.es.
The experimentation associated with the thesis will involve integrated last-generation omics technologies in cellular and animal models, as well as translationalassays in samples from human patients.
Salary, years of contract duration and other work conditions will be according to the
standards in official calls from Ministry, Generalitat, UB.
Candidates should have the academic conditions for registering to a PhD program in
the academic year 2024-2025.
Interested candidates contact Dr. Francesc Villarroya by mail (fvillarroya@ub.edu)
attaching a letter of interest and a CV.
In a ceremony in the 18th century building that houses the Academy of Medicine of Catalonia, Dr. Pere Domingo was named a member of the Academy. Dr. Domingo is a long-time collaborator with whom we have been developing translational research on adipose tissue and metabolic alterations in people living with HIV for the last twenty years. Nearly twenty projects financed by public (Carlos III Health Institute, FIPSE, Fundació Marato TV3) and private companies and 70 joint publications account for this fruitful scientific collaboration, currently ongoing. Congratulations, Pere!
Cpril 23, Sant Jordi (Saint George's Day), is celebrated in Catalonia as the "day of the book and the rose." The Faculty of Biology organized a public multilingual reading of fragments of the Catalan book "Canto jo i la muntanya balla" in different languages. Niki Sciarrino, from the University of Hasselt (Belgium) and staying in our laboratory for master's thesis, participated as a reader of a chapter of the book in Dutch. Thank you Niki for your contribution!
Dr Milanski and the student Joao V. Da Silva Domingues are visiting our research team for several months to develop joint research program on the effects of interesterified triglycerides, a growing component of processed food, on metabolism.
A workshop on the subject "Using infrared thermography for measurement of brown adipose tissue in humans", leaded by Dr. Rubén Cereijo, lecturer at our research team, was held last 22 January at Facultat de Biología, Universitat de Barcelona. Infrared thermography is appearing as a very useful tool for non-invasive measurement of brown fat activity, specially useful in humans. Researchers from Institut de Recerca Santa Creu I Sant Pau, University of Campinas and Universidad Miguel Hernández, among others, attended the workshop.
The journal Treballs de la Societat Catalana de Biologia (Societat Catalana de Biologia, associated with Institut d'Estudis Catalans) published the issue 73 (2023), open access (Treballs de la Societat Catalana de Biologia), devoted to women in biological sciences, on occasion of the "International Day of Women and Girls in Science". Marta Giralt, full professor at our research team, coordinated this publication together with Gemma Marfany from the Department of Genetics at our University,. Roser Iglesias, also at our research team, contributes with a biographical report on Gabriela Morreale, a pioneer woman in endocrinology research.
Our team contributed with an invited presentation, oral communication and poster presentation by Francesc Villarroya, Albert Blasco-Roset and Albert Mestres-Arenas in relation to the identification of novel batokines involved in the control of adiposity and metabolism. Fruitful interactions with the Spanish community involved in basic and clinical research on obesity has been developed.
Devoted to interdisciplinary research on the role of adipose tissue in health and disease. The ADIPOBROAD network has been awarded by the Ministry of Science to coordinate research on adipobiology and undertake innovative research on emerging issues such as the importance of gender in adipose tissue, climate change and adiposity, or the key role of adipose tissue in cancer and aging. Ten research teams across Spain, placed at Cordoba, Santiago de Compostela, Pamplona, Tarragona, Girona, Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona will act as members of the network.
Pablo Fernández from Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid; and Laura Fei, from University of Florence, Italy, completed fruitful research stays at our lab on distinct projects on adipocyte pathophysiology. Our lab is happy to host young promising researchers and we appreciate their input and enthusiasm.
Under the moto "Science is catchy", the University of Barcelona reports a
dialogue between Professor Marta Giralt and her daughter, doctoral student Palmira Llorens. On the occasion of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, the University of Barcelona released an interview about these issues with two women who live and share research in their closest environment: at home. They are Marta Giralt, from our research team, and her daughter Palmira Llorens, a PhD student in genetics at the UB.
For full information click here.
The Spanish Society of Obesity (SEEDO) organized the “The Day of Obesity” in Spain last
December 15. A highlight was dissemination of the importance of research on brown adipose
tissue activity, why it is protective for obesity and associated diseases, and how current
research envisage the identification of new tools for therapeutic activation of brown fat.
Ruben Cereijo and Marta Giralt from our research team organized an open session to public
volunteers for non-invasive assessment of brown fat activity using infrared thermography as
well as dissemination of the importance of brown fat in the premises of the Faculty of Biology in the University of Barcelona.
Francesc Villarroya acted as spokesman in a press conference in Madrid organized by SEEDO to highlight the current status and importance of brown adipose tissue research. The “Day of
Obesity” activities by SEEDO have had this year an outstanding coverage in the Spanish media, highlighting the importance of research to achieve successful therapeutic and preventive actions on obesity and the promising research involving brown fat.
Our research team is proud to participate in the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the first academic year in the Historical Building of the University of Barcelona. A concert by the UB orchestra, in which our team member Dr. Joan Villarroya participates as a violinist, performing concert pieces by Catalan composers, kicks off the commemorative activities.
LAST PUBLICATIONS
Acyl CoA-binding protein in brown adipose tissue acts as a negative
regulator of adaptive thermogenesis.
Objective.
Defective activity of brown adipose tissue (BAT) is linked to obesity and cardiometabolic diseases. While much is known regarding the biological signals that trigger BAT thermogenesis, relatively little is known about the repressors that may impair BAT function in physiological and pathological settings. Acyl CoA-binding protein (ACBP; also known as diazepam binding inhibitor, DBI) has intracellular functions related to lipid metabolism and can be secreted to act as a circulating regulatory factor that affects multiple organs. Our objective was to determine the role of ACBP in BAT function. Methods. Experimental models based on the targeted inactivation of the Acbp gene in brown adipocytes, both in vitro and in vivo, as well as brown adipocytes treated with recombinant ACBP, were developed and analyzed for transcriptomic and metabolic changes.
Results.
ACBP expression and release in BAT are suppressed by noradrenergic cAMP-dependent signals that stimulate thermogenesis. This regulation occurs through gene expression modulation and autophagy-related processes. Mice with targeted ablation of Acbp in brown adipocytes exhibit enhanced BAT thermogenic activity and protection against high-fat diet-induced obesity and glucose intolerance; this is associated with BAT transcriptome changes, including upregulation of BAT thermogenesis-related genes. Treatment of brown adipocytes with exogenous ACBP suppresses oxidative activity, lipolysis, and thermogenesis-related gene expression. ACBP treatment inhibits the noradrenergic-induced phosphorylation of p38 MAP-kinase and CREB, which are major intracellular mediators of brown adipocyte thermogenesis.
Conclusions.
The ACBP system acts as a crucial auto regulatory repressor of BAT thermogenesis that responds reciprocally to the noradrenergic induction of BAT activity.
Albert Blasco-Roset , Tania Quesada-López , Albert Mestres-Arenas , Joan Villarroya , Francisco J Godoy-Nieto , Rubén Cereijo , Celia Rupérez , Ditte Neess , Nils J Færgeman , Marta Giralt , Anna Planavila , Francesc Villarroya. Mol Metab. 2025 Apr 11:102153. doi: 10.1016/j.molmet.2025.102153
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