Antonio Zorzano is  Full Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Barcelona, Group Leader at the IRB Barcelona, and Programme Head at CIBERDEM. Professor Zorzano received his PhD in Biology at the University of Barcelona, and did postdoctoral studies at the Hospital Ramon y Cajal, (Madrid), and at Boston University Medical Center. He has supervised  40 Ph.D. theses, is co-inventor of 21 patents, and has published over 300 scientific articles (more than 31,000 citations, h-index of 82, Google Scholar). He has been founder of  biotechnological companies in Spain and in UK.

Professor Zorzano’s research focuses on the regulation of metabolism and its interplay with insulin resistance, obesity and type 2 diabetes. A global goal is to identify and validate molecular targets that permit the prevention or treatment of metabolic diseases  by using cell-based systems, genetically modified mice, and translational approaches.

Research interests

A major objective of my laboratory is to understand the biology mitochondrial dynamics proteins, the mitophagy pathways, and the relative role of these mitochondrial components in the triggering of inflammation. We are also interested in the manipulation of these pathways for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and type 2 diabetes (T2D).  The specific objectives are described below.

A) Analysis of the proteins involved in the transfer of phosphatidylserine (PS) from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to mitochondria, and precise role of Mitofusin 2.

B) Functional role of the autophagy protein TP53INP2 on energy metabolism and mechanisms involved.

C) Identification of mitochondrial pathways triggering inflammation in muscle cells, and the connection between mitochondrial morphology and inflammation.

Keywords

mitochondria, mitochondrial dynamics, mitochondria-endoplasmic reticulum contact sites, autophagy, diabetes, obesity