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.
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.
Increased adiposity is a current concern in people living with HIV treated with the last-generation antiretroviral drugs of the integrase inhibitor family. The platform NAM-AIDSMAP, devoted to provision of independent, accurate & accessible information about HIV, highlights our findings recently published in Life Sciences (doi: 10.1016/j.lfs.2022.120948). We showed that the integrase inhibitor dolutegravir suppresses the production of adiponectin, a chemical secreted by fat tissue that regulates insulin sensitivity, which provides further evidence that dolutegravir can have direct effects on the human cells that store fat (see https://www.aidsmap.com/news/oct-2022/dolutegravir-has-direct-effects-fat-cells).
Our research team contribute to the EMBO workshop “Energy balance in metabolic disorders” in Málaga.
Francesc Villarroya, as invited speaker, Tania Quesada, through a selected communication, and Moisès Castellà through a poster communication, presented our current research on inter-organ singaling and molecular actors involved in metabolism and adipose tissue thermogenic plasticity at the EMBO meeting held in Málaga last 3 to 6 October.
The "2nd symposium of research Institutes at University of Barcelona was devoted to interdisciplinary research on climate change and global warming. In this context, as a contribution from IBUB, Marta Giralt presented the current knowledge and research perpectives on the cross-talk between climate change events and obesity pandemics, and how worldwide altered adiposity is both a consequence and a potential actor in climate change and global warming.
Journal of Endocrinology is the flagship basic science journal of the Society for Endocrinology, and is also an official journal of the European Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society of Australia. See journal's news at https://joe.bioscientifica.com/page/impactfactor/impact-factor-collection.
The Stanford University has released a study on the 2% top influential worldwide scientists according to a complex analysis of publications and citations (see: https://elsevier.digitalcommonsdata.com/datasets/btchxktzyw/3). F. Villarroya and M. Giralt are among this 2% and F.Villarroya is in fact among the 1/1000 most influential worldwide researchers. Regardless of individuals, this success in scientific ranking is exemplifying the excellent task and dedication of everybody in our research team to advance in scientific knowledge and biomedical prospects in our research. Congrats to everybody!.
International Journal of Obesity quotes a selection of articles from 2021, which top the
Dr Tania Quesada was awarded for her PhD thesis supervised by Dr. M.Giralt and Dr. F.Villarroya. Among other contributions, the thesis gave rise to the publication "The lipid sensor GPR120 promotes brown fat activation and FGF21 release from adipocytes." Nature Communications 2016, 7:13479. doi: 10.1038/ncomms13479. The rector of the University of Barcelona gave the award on the occasion of the ceremony in the "Paraninfo" of the University.
International Journal of Obesity quotes a selection of articles from 2021, which top the
Current research on the prevention of metabolic alterations such as obesity or cardiovascular disease in people living with HIV under antiretroviral treatments were presented to the general public of the Guinardó district , Barcelona. The recording of the presentation can be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quDGLLBLQXM
International Journal of Obesity quotes a selection of articles from 2021, which top the
list of the journal’s most cited, downloaded and most shared (including press
coverage, blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Weibo) articles. They showcase the breadth of
scope and coverage that the journal consistently delivers to its readers. Our paper
“The chemokine CXCL14 is negatively associated with obesity and concomitant type-2
diabetes in humans” by R. Cereijo, T. Quesada-López, A. Gavaldà-Navarro, J. Tarascó, S.
Pellitero, M. Reyes, M. Puig-Domingo, M. Giralt, D. Sánchez-Infantes & F.Villarroya,
published in January 2021, has been selected. The article states the importance of
CXCL14 as a biomarker of obesity/diabetes in humans after our previous study in Cell
Metabolism 2018 identifying CXCL14 as a novel batokine on the basis of rodent model
studies. The International Journal of Obesity is a leading multi-disciplinary journal
from the Nature editorial group publishing research describing basic, clinical and
applied studies in obesity and related disorders.
The project "ACBP, a new cadiomyokine for dtection and treatment of cardiac disease" has been awarded as research project by "Sociedad Española de Cardiología" and "Fundación Española del Corazón 2021". The project is leaded by Anna Planavila with participation of Francesc Villarroya and Albert Blasco, and the award will support translational research on molecular cardiology. Dr Planavila received the award at the Awards Ceremony on occasion of the recent "SEC 2021 - Annual Congress of the Spanish Society of Cardiology" at Zaragoza, Spain, last October 29.
The event of presentation of Sanna Laurila thesis, from the PET laboratory at the University of Turku, took place last 13 August, with Francesc Villarroya acting as opponent, a honorary role for doctorate qualification in the Finish University. The work by S.Laurila was related to the role of secretin in the control of human brown adipose tissue activity and was developed in the laboratory of K.Virtanen and P.Nuutila, international leader in research on human brown fat.
LAST PUBLICATIONS
Adipose tissue plasticity in pheochromocytoma patients suggests a role of the splicing machinery in human adipose browning.
Adipose tissue from pheochromocytoma patients acquires brown fat features, making it
a valuable model for studying the mechanisms that control thermogenic adipose
plasticity in humans. Transcriptomic analyses revealed a massive downregulation of
splicing machinery components and splicing regulatory factors in browned adipose
tissue from patients, with upregulation of a few genes encoding RNA-binding proteins
potentially involved in splicing regulation. These changes were also observed in cell
culture models of human brown adipocyte differentiation, confirming a potential
involvement of splicing in the cell-autonomous control of adipose browning. The
coordinated changes in splicing are associated with a profound modification in the
expression levels of splicing-driven transcript isoforms for genes involved in the
specialized metabolism of brown adipocytes and those encoding master transcriptional
regulators of adipose browning. Splicing control appears to be a relevant component of
the coordinated gene expression changes that allow human adipose tissue to acquire a
brown phenotype.
Castellá M, Blasco-Roset A, Peyrou M, Gavaldà-Navarro A, Villarroya J, Quesada-López T, Lorente-Poch L, Sancho J, Szymczak F, Piron A, Rodríguez-Fernández S, Carobbio S, Goday A, Domingo P, Vidal-Puig A, Giralt M, Eizirik DL, Villarroya F, Cereijo R. iScience. 2023, 26:106847
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