Our research group focuses on studying the molecular and physiological foundations that regulate energy metabolism and its relationship with various human pathologies. Mitochondria are highly adaptable organelles, capable of reprogramming bioenergetic pathways in response to environmental stimuli and the organism’s energy demands. Understanding these processes, their signals, and molecular mechanisms is essential to identify dysfunctions may affect to metabolism, as well as to comprehend how mitochondrial function influences common diseases such as diabetes, cancer, or autoimmune disorders. With this purpose, the group has developed an ambitious and multidisciplinary line of research dedicated to the study of metabolic plasticity, understood as the ability of a biological system to adapt its metabolic phenotype in the face of different environmental stressors. Through systems biology approaches, we aim to comprehensively understand how metabolism is shaped by external cues and, in particular, during lifestyle-induced transitions that lead to obesity-related type 2 diabetes and, subsequently, to the recovery of a healthy state. We ask whether obesity may compromise metabolic plasticity, which tissues are most susceptible to this loss, and how this process affects mitochondrial dynamics and function.

.