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.



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).







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.






In line with our affiliation to Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu (IRSJD), we participated in a study published recently in Science Translational Medicine (DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abb0322), the prestigious journal from the Science group. This research, led by Dr. Carles Lerin at IRSJD, identified an inverse relationship between maternal breast milk betaine content and infant growth, and it was demonstrated that  maternal betaine supplementation during lactation induced a transient increase in offspring intestinal Akkermansia abundance, and reduced early weight gain. Furthermore, it was shown that maternal betaine supplementation decreased adiposity and improved glucose metabolism throughout adulthood, demonstrating a link between breast milk betaine content and long-term metabolic health. Our participation in this study is a follow up of  our long standing research on the molecular basis of the healthy properties of breastfeeding.
A recent article  (https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000918) published in PLOS Biology, presents a list of the 2% of scientists worldwide that lead different disciplines. This ranking has been conducted with the information provided by the Scopus database. Francesc Villarroya appears as one of these top 2% influential researchers in field of Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Albert Mestres Arenas, PhD student at our team, has been awarded by "Comissió de dinamització Lingüística de la Facultat de Biologia UB" with the prize to the best graduation thesis document written in Catalan (academic year 2019-20) for his work “Caracterització fenotípica del teixit adipós perivascular aòrtic i estudi comparatiu amb altres dipòsits adiposos”, developed at our laboratory. Congratulations!
The "Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu" (IRSJD) has been recognized by the Board of Trustees of the Institution of the Research Centers of Catalonia (CERCA) as a CERCA center. This  implies the recognition of the frontier biomedical research developed at IRSJD and oriented to the improvement of quality of life in children and adults. The CERCA recognition implies entering the Catalan research structure, as a top quality research center showing efficient management, and will allow access to additional funds to develop scientific activities.

Our research team has been part of IRSJD for a few years, which has enhanced our translational research in metabolism and endocrinology in collaboration with clinics at Sant Joan de Déu hospital. Examples of our translational research in pediatrics follow:


Reduced circulating levels of chemokine CXCL14 in adolescent girls with polycystic ovary syndrome: normalization after insulin sensitization.
García-Beltran C, Cereijo R, Quesada-López T, Malpique R, López-Bermejo A, de Zegher F, Ibáñez L, Villarroya F.
BMJ Open Diabetes Res Care. 2020 Feb;8(1):e001035.

Circulating growth-and-differentiation factor-15 in early life: relation to prenatal and postnatal growth and adiposity measurements.
Díaz M, Campderrós L, Guimaraes MP, López-Bermejo A, de Zegher F, Villarroya F, Ibáñez L.
Pediatr Res. 2020 Apr;87(5):897-902.

Growth Differentiation Factor 15 is a potential biomarker of therapeutic response for TK2 deficient myopathy.
Dominguez-Gonzalez C, Badosa C, Madruga-Garrido M, Martí I, Paradas C, Ortez C, Diaz-Manera J, Berardo A, Alonso-Pérez J, Trifunov S, Cuadras D, Kalko SG, Blázquez-Bermejo C, Cámara Y, Martí R, Mavillard F, Martin MA, Montoya J, Ruiz-Pesini E, Villarroya J, Montero R, Villarroya F, Artuch R, Hirano M, Nascimento A, Jimenez-Mallebrera C.
Sci Rep. 2020 Jun 22;10(1):10111.


Brown adipose tissue in prepubertal children: associations with sex, birthweight, and metabolic profile.
Malpique R, Gallego-Escuredo JM, Sebastiani G, Villarroya J, López-Bermejo A, de Zegher F, Villarroya F, Ibáñez L.
Int J Obes (Lond). 2019 Feb;43(2):384-391.