Within the framework of the State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation 2021-2023, the objective of the call Consolidación Investigadora is to consolidate the professional career of national and foreign researchers, so that they can develop their professional career within the SECTI (Sistema Español de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación).
Maribel Hernández Alvarez leads the project “Analysis of the effect of the menstrual cycle on the actions of the liver-brain axis in the development of NAFLD and type 2 diabetes“. The major delivery and novelty of this proposal reside in the elucidation of an unexplored brain-liver axis in the control of female metabolic changes in the estrous cycle and its connection with sex-specific differences in the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) caused by Mfn2 ablation.
Joan Villarroya leads the project “Chaperone-mediated autophagy, a novel actor in the control of adipose tissue plasticity“. This project is an intend to develop a research line based on studying the role of chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA), a type of autophagy mediating a more selective autophagic degradation of proteins relative to general autophagy, in adipose tissue plasticity. This project will shed light on how adipose tissue acquires energy expending (beige/brown) versus energy storing (white) properties, which is key for the propensity of individuals to obesity and/or lipodystrophy, and the associated unhealthy disorders, especially occurring in aging.
Joan Villarroya 
Maribel Hernández Alvarez
