Recerca » Alimentació, dieta i salut

Nutricional Cell Signalling

Nutricional Cell Signalling
Més informació a la seva web
We describe the molecular mechanisms of communication between diet, metabolism and genome, which allow to understand its impact on health and disease.

Our multidisciplinary research group in biochemistry and molecular biology has the overall objective of describing the molecular mechanisms by which different dietary components or nutritional profiles have an impact on metabolism and assessing their preventive or therapeutic potential in metabolic pathologies such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease or weight loss processes.

Dra. Joana Relat i Dra. Sílvia Canudas
Investigador principal
Dra. Joana Relat i Dra. Sílvia Canudas

Dr. Joana Relat is Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Science and Gastronomy at the University of Barcelona. She holds a degree in Pharmacy and a PhD from the University of Barcelona in the Biomedicine programme. Currently, her research lines are focused on the study of the impact of nutrition on cell signalling and metabolic regulation. More than 20 years of experience as a researcher in projects aimed at defining the key points in the regulation of lipid metabolism as well as potential therapeutic targets to combat metabolic diseases such as obesity and insulin resistance, Two post-doctoral stays in the research group of Professor Antonio Vidal-Puig at the University of Cambridge, Metabolic Research Laboratories, Institute of Metabolic Science (UK) and the participation in different public and private research projects have given him the necessary experience to co-lead this research group with Dr. Silvia Canudas.

Silvia Canudas is Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Science and Gastronomy at the University of Barcelona. She holds a degree in Biology and a PhD from the University of Barcelona in the Biochemistry programme. Currently, her research lines are focused on the study of the impact of nutrition on telomere aging and telomere biology. Her interest in genome integrity and maintenance led her to join Dr. Susan Smith’s laboratory at the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine (New York University) to carry out her post-doctoral research (2004-2011) and later she joined the human nutrition unit at the URV as a Ramon y Cajal where she gained experience in the design and development of epidemiological studies in nutrition. In 2021 he joined the UB and from 2023 he co-leads this research group with Dr. Joana Relat.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8974-1785
Equip
Línies de recerca
  • Bioactive compounds in healthy aging and the prevention of metabolic diseases

    Considering the fact that some of the most common medical problems in industrialised societies (cardiovascular diseases, hyperlipidaemia, obesity and insulin resistance as well as obesity) are characterised by alterations in the metabolic profile, our research aims to define the impact of certain dietary components or nutritional profiles on metabolic homeostasis.

  • Dietary interventions to reduce obesity and its metabolic comorbidities: role of PPARg

    It has been described that PPARγ antagonists not only improve insulin resistance but also cause a reduction in body weight, suggesting their clinical potential in the treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Rosa canina pulp exerts a preventive effect on HFD-induced obesity and our results suggest that the mechanism may involve a PPARg antagonist. The aim is to identify these putative antagonist(s) and define their pharmacological effect and potency.

  • Formulation of foods for the control of childhood obesity

    This project aims to generate knowledge in order to develop strategies to tackle early childhood obesity and prevent accelerated weight gain between the ages of 2 and 8. It is a project in which companies and universities are involved and we intend to define ingredients with scientifically validated action that can be placed on the market at the end of the project in child-friendly formats.

Sanz-Lamora H, Nicola-Llorente M, Torres-Oteros A, Pérez-Martí A, Aghziel I, Lozano-Castellón J, Vallverdú-Queralt A, Canudas S, Marrero P.F., Haro DAC, Relat JAC.

The Antiobesity Effects of Rosehip (Rosa canina) Flesh by Antagonizing the PPAR Gamma Activity in High-Fat Diet-Fed Mice.

Mol. Nutr. Food Res., 2300539 (11/11) 2024. ; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/mnfr.202300539

Marti A, de la Puente MF, Canudas S, Zalba G, Razquin C, Valle-Hita, C; Fitó M, Martínez-González MA; García-Calzón S, Salas-Salvadó J.

Effect of a 3-year lifestyle intervention on telomere length in participants from PREDIMED-Plus: A randomized trial.

Clin Nutr. 2023 Sep;42(9):1581-1587.; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2023.06.030

Sanz-Lamora H, Marrero P.F., Haro D, Relat J.

A Mixture of Pure, Isolated Polyphenols Worsens the Insulin Resistance and Induces Kidney and Liver Fibrosis Markers in Diet-Induced Obese Mice.

(5/5) 2022. Antioxidants 11 (1), pp.120. ISSN 1661-6596.; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox11010120

Fernández de la Puente M, Hernández-Alonso P, Canudas S, Martí A, Fitó M, Razquin C, Salas-Salvadó J.

Modulation of Telomere length and DNA oxidation beyond Mediterranean diet: Results from PREDIMED-Plus study.

Antioxidants. 2021 Oct 12;10(10):1596. ; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox10101596

Rodriguez-Cuenca S, Lelliot CJ, Campbell M, Peddinti G, Martinez-Uña M, Ingvorsen C, Dias AR, Relat J, Mora S, Hyötyläinen T, Zorzano A, Orešič M, Bjursell M, Bohlooly-Y M, Lindén D, Vidal-Puig A.

Allostatic hypermetabolic response in PGC1α/β heterozygote mouse despite mitochondrial defects.

The FASEB Jorunal 35 (9), pp. e21752. ISSN 0892-6638. (8/16) 2021. ; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1096/fj.202100262RR

Sandoval V, Sanz-Lamora H, Marrero P.F., Relat J., Haro D

Lyophilized Maqui (Aristotelia chilensis) Berry Administration Supresses High Fat Diet-Induced liver lipogenesis through the induction of the Nuclear Corepressor SMILE.

Antioxidants 10 (5), pp.E637. ISSN 1661-6596. (4/5) 2021. ; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox10050637

Canudas S, Galié S, Muralidharan J, García-Gavilán F, Bulló M, Salas-Salvadó J.

mpact of Nutrition on Telomere Health: a systematic review of observational cohort studies and randomized clinical trials.

Advances in Nutrition. 2020. 3-11, pp.576-601. ; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmz107

Canudas S, Becerra-Tomás N, Hernández-Alonso P, et al. Salas-Salvadó J. ,

Mediterranean Diet and Telomere Length: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Advances in Nutrition. 2020. 6-11, pp.1544-1554.; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmaa079

Canudas S, Hernández-Alonso P, Galié S, Muralidharan J, Morell-Azanza L, Zalba G, García-Gavilán J.F., Martí A, Salas-Salvadó J, Bulló M.

Pistachio consumption modulates DNA oxidation and genes related to telomere maintenance: a crossover randomized clinical trial.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2019 Jun 1;109(6):1738-1745. ; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqz048

Viviana Sandoval, Antoni Femenias, Úrsula Martínez-Garza, Hèctor Sanz-Lamora, Juan Manuel Castagnini, Paola Quifer-Rada, Rosa Maria Lamuela-Raventós , Pedro F Marrero, Diego Haro, Joana Relat

Lyophilized Maqui (Aristotelia chilensis) Berry Induces Browning in the Subcutaneous White Adipose Tissue and Ameliorates the Insulin Resistance in High Fat Diet-Induced Obese Mice

Antioxidants 8 (9), pp.E360. ISSN 1661-6596. (10/10) 2019. ; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox8090360

Sergio Rodriguez-Cuenca, Stefania Carobbio, Gwendolyn Barceló-Coblijn, Xavier Prieur, Joana Relat, Ramon Amat, Mark Campbell, Ana Rita Dias, Myriam Bahri, Sarah L Gray, Antonio Vidal-Puig

P465L pparγ mutation confers partial resistance to the hypolipidemic action of fibrates

Diabetes Obesity and Metabolism. 20(10), 2339-2350. ISSN 1462-8902. (4/11) 2018.; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/dom.13370

Evaluation of the drug mediated inhibition of DAO enzyme: A multidisciplinary approach (IDAODRUG).

M Carmen Vidal Carou

2024

Histamine intolerance is a disorder resulting from the inability of the enzyme diamine oxidase (DAO) to metabolise dietary histamine at the intestinal level. Symptomatology includes a wide range of gastrointestinal and non-specific extra-gastrointestinal symptoms, due to the ubiquitous distribution of the four histamine receptors in different organs and tissues of the body. Among the different aetiological factors described for this food intolerance, the pharmacological origin has been the least studied. It has been widely suggested that the DAO enzyme may be temporarily and reversibly inhibited by various drugs. However, although a long list of drugs with the ability to inhibit DAO has been identified over the years, scientific studies with solid data on this subject are still scarce.

Therefore, the overall objective of this project is to generate advanced scientific knowledge on the ability of drugs to block DAO enzyme function, as well as to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for this effect.

Formulación de alimentos para la regulación de la obesidad infantil (FARO-i)

Sílvia Canudas Puig (UB) – Líder global: GLOBAL FRUSELVA ETVE S.L.

2024

The consortium involved in this project aims to generate knowledge to develop strategies to tackle early childhood obesity and prevent accelerated weight gain between the ages of 2 and 8. As a result of this project, it is hoped to be able to define scientifically validated ingredients that can be marketed once the project is completed, either in company products directly to the public or as ingredients for other more accessible formats. Through these products, it is hoped to reach at least a significant percentage of currently obese children, around 5% of the total, to begin to demonstrate market effectiveness and offer an alternative for those children for whom current preventive strategies are insufficient or inadequate.

Obesidad, otra pandemia del siglo XXI. Mecenazjo científico (Plataforma Precipita – FECYT)

Joana Relat Pardo

2022

This is a project financed by micro-micro-financing, the aim of which is to study the metabolic impact of the rose hip (Rosa canina) on obese and insulin-resistant individuals. With this project, the aim is to answer questions such as:

– What is the real potential of the rose hip as an anti-obesogenic and anti-diabetic product?

– What is its mechanism of action?

– What are its target points?

– What is its polyphenolic profile, both qualitatively and quantitatively?

And, finally, to answer the question: what would the incorporation of the rose hip pulp into the diet contribute in terms of health and wellbeing?

In addition to the role that our results can play in promoting the incorporation of rose hip pulp into our diet, the fact of working with local fruit and vegetables contributes to the European Union’s food sustainability strategy, which seeks to protect the environment and guarantee healthy food for everyone, while ensuring the livelihoods of farmers.

The role of FGF21 in the metabolic response to amino acid restriction.

2017

Role of Fsp27 in lipid homeostasis during nutrient deprivation.

2018

Impact of gene expression and metabolic homeostasis of bioactive compounds-enriched diets.

2020

The role of hepatic FGF21 in the maintenance of metabolic homeostasis during metabolic stress.

2020

Effects and underlying mechanisms of Bioactive compounds-enriched diets against Obesity and associated pathologies.

2022

Influence of lifestyle factors and associations with male reproductive quality

2024