Page 30 - CIBERDEM-2015-eng

Research groups
The Eicosanoid Research Division
Programme: P3
Lead Researcher: Balsinde Rodríguez, Jesús
Group members
STAFF MEMBERS: Meana González, Clara | Rubio Aranda, Julio Miguel
ASSOCIATED MEMBERS: Astudillo del Valle, Alma | Balboa, María Ángeles | de Pablo Herranz, Nagore | Duque de Cela, Montserrat | Gil de Gómez Sesma, Luis | Guijas Mate, Carlos | Lebrero Fernández, Patricia | Lorden Losada, Gema | Montero Domínguez, Olimpio | Sanjuán García, Miren Itziar
Main lines of research
Lipids are key to signaling events in cells. Hence, they are the ultimate controllers and regulators of our bodily processes. Further, imbalances in lipids are the hallmark of a large number of illnesses. If we are going to cure these diseases, we must know what the lipids are and what they do. Within this context our current research lines can be defined as follows:
• Cellular regulation of phospholipase A2s and li- pins as key regulators of the production of arachi- donate-derived eicosanoids, substances which can have pro- or and anti-inflammatory activity. There are multiple phospholipase A2s and lipins in the cells and our goal is to delineate the role that each of these forms plays in the production of eicosanoids in obesity, diabetes and cardiovas- cular disease.
• Biosynthesis and degradation of lipid droplets during cellular activation. Lipid droplets are the
cytoplasmic organelles where monocytes/mac- rophages store fat, yet they also serve many other interesting roles, e.g. they may function as docking platforms for a number of enzymes in- volved in lipid signaling or as an intracellular site for the synthesis of lipid mediators.
• Application of mass spectrometry-based lipidom- ic strategies for the identification and quantifica- tion of cellular lipidomes. A major goal in this re- gard is to determine the origin and identity of the individual phospholipid molecular species that are produced under different conditions, as a key step to address their biological roles in cells.
• Role of omega-3 fatty acid derivatives as deac- tivators of monocyte/macrophage activation via their antagonistic effects on inflammasome acti- vation or other mechanisms of pathophysiologi- cal relevance.
30 I Annual report 2015 I CIBERDEM