Professor Josep M. Argilés awarded by the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism
Josep M. Argilés, professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the Faculty of Biology of the UB and researcher at the Institute of Biomedicine of the UB (IBUB), has been awarded the Sir David Cuthbertson, a price conferred annually by the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN), one of the most prestigious nutrition societies in the world.
Josep M. Argilés, professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the Faculty of Biology of the UB and researcher at the Institute of Biomedicine of the UB (IBUB), has been awarded the Sir David Cuthbertson, a price conferred annually by the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN), one of the most prestigious nutrition societies in the world.
Dr Argilés received the prize within the 37th ESPEN Congress, which took place in Lisbon from 5 to 8 September, after pronouncing the lecture “Inflammation as the driving force of muscle wasting in cancer”. Since 1979, the prize has been given to prestigious international scientists like Salvador Moncada, who received the Prince of Asturias Scientific and Technological Research Award in 1990, and Aaron Ciechanover, who won the Nobel prize in Chemistry for characterizing the method that cells use to degrade and recycle proteins using ubiquitin.
Dr Josep M. Argilès leads the Research Group on Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in Cancer, which studies the molecular biology of cachexia. The research group has found that tumour necrosis factor alpha —a cytokine mainly produced by macrophages— is responsible for most metabolic changes associates to cancer cachexia, particularly those related to an increased mobilization of muscle proteins. The group has also identified the proteolytic system —the proteolytic route that depends on adenosine-triphosphate (ATP) and ubiquitin— that is activated in these conditions.