Metabolism, Aging and Disease

Addressing aging- and lifestyle-related diseases from a metabolic point of view, pointing towards discovering mechanisms, biomarkers, and therapies

About Metabolism, Aging and Disease Area

Overview

Research in the Metabolism, Aging and Disease area focuses on studies of alterations of cell metabolism, especially energy generation pathways, which often accelerate the aging process or in diseases such as diabetes, fatty liver disease, skeletal muscle wasting, osteoporosis, cardiovascular diseases, infertility, and cancer.

Main Goals

  • To understand the lifestyle/diet impact in cell aging, focusing on whether overnutrition/undernutrition or physical activity modulates the signaling pathways commonly associated with aging metabolic alterations;
  • To understand mitochondrial functionality and how it can be regulated for biomedical purposes;
  • To identify impairments quality control processes in aging and lifestyle-related diseases;
  • To investigate the epigenetic regulation of metabolic capacity, namely whether metabolic capacity in the different tissues can be programmed in utero, and transmitted transgenerationally, resulting in predisposition to disease or accelerated aging in the adult;
  • To identify key serum markers or hormonal/metabolic alterations which anticipate the onset of frailty, focusing on early metabolic alterations that result in later loss of bone or muscle mass;
  • To understand the metabolic adaptations that are common to stem cell differentiation and tumorigenesis, in order to provide a basis for novel strategies to control stem cell differentiation and tumorigenesis;
  • To elucidate the molecular mechanisms behind human infertility and to develop new clinical tools;
  • To investigate the role of metabolism in inflammation and the immune response in chronic diseases.

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