Live Research Fair: from the genetics of addiction to future targets to treat obesity
Does addictive substance abuse have a genetic basis? How could brown fat help control obesity? Can we get sick due the pollution in the air we breathe? Once more, the 17th edition of Live Research Fair will create dialogues between the field of science and citizens, from March 6 to 9, in CosmoCaixa Barcelona.
Does addictive substance abuse have a genetic basis? How could brown fat help control obesity? Can we get sick due the pollution in the air we breathe? Once more, the 17th edition of Live Research Fair will create dialogues between the field of science and citizens, from March 6 to 9, in CosmoCaixa Barcelona.
This forum, organized by the Barcelona Science Park (PCB) and Obra Social la Caixa, will gather eleven research groups from Catalan institutions to create a communication space for science and society -beyond the academic and research atmosphere- and promote scientific vocations among youngsters. The new edition of Live Research Fair, part of the science dissemination program of PCBʼs Recerca en Societat, is supported by the Barcelona City Council and the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT).
Framed within the fair, on Wednesday, March 6, the rector of the UB, Joan Elias, took part in one of the guided tours around the stands together with Maria Terrades, director of the PCB; Lluís Noguera, director of CosmoCaixa, and Anna Serra, head of Communication (PCB).
Once more, the UB takes part in the new edition of the Live Research Fair with encouraging proposals to wake up the interest in science:
Drugs and genes: what does science say about it?
There are more and more scientific studies that prove there is a relation between genetics and likelihood to use addictive substances. Studying the link between some genes and substance addiction is one of the working lines of the team led by the lecturer Bru Cormand, from the Faculty of Biology and the Institute of Biomedicine of the University of Barcelona (IBUB), the Research Institute Sant Joan de Déu (IRSJD) and the Rare Diseases Networking Biomedical Center (CIBERER). COrmand, head of the Research Group on Neurogenetics at the Faculty of Biology of the UB, will share with the audience -the methodology of the applied science in preclinical and clinical studies of this field of genetic research to help improve prevention strategies in the field of addictions.
Brown fat, obesityʼs ally
The brown adipose tissue (BAT) helps burning calories and producing body heat out of fat. Also, this type of fat -motor of thermogenesis- is also able secrete molecules with beneficial action for the body. This new view on the brown adipose tissue opens the possibility to develop new therapeutic tools for the treatment of metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. This year, attendants will see the relation between the active brown fat and a good metabolic health, through the research by the Research Group on Molecular Metabolism and Disease of the UB, led by Professor Francesc Villarroya, from the Faculty of Biology and the Institute of Biomedicine of the University of Barcelona (IBUB), and member of the Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition Networking Biomedical Research Centre (CIBERobn).
Like in previous editions, the three winners of the Batx2Lab program -aimed at upper secondary students who carry out their practical part of their research project at PCB- will be present in a stand to explain their research project to the attendants.