Research Program. Precision Nutrition and Aging

Metabolic Syndrome Group

Group leader: Dr. Pablo José Fernández Marcos

Objectives: Our group is devoted to the development of nutritional interventions reproducing short-term fasting benefits in metabolic syndrome, cancer and other age-related pathologies, and to the study of the molecular mechanisms underlying these interventions. These are our main lines of research:


• Identification, characterization and development of new bioactive products that reproduce molecular features of short-term fasting: inhibition of the insulin signaling pathway, reversible depolarization of mitochondria or increased levels of the important redox metabolites NAD+ or NADPH.
•Study the molecular mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of short-term fasting during chemotherapy treatment: reduction of chemotherapy toxicity and induction of anti-tumor immune reaction.
• Study the role of the fasting-induced sirtuin members Sirt1 and Sirt3 in lung and liver cancer development, respectively.

Dr. Pablo José Fernández Marcos

Group leader of the Metabolic Syndrome Group

Dr. Pablo José Fernández Marcos studied Biochemistry in the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. He obtained his PhD in the laboratory of Dr. Manuel Serrano, at the CNIO, for which he obtained the Special PhD Award and published 8 research articles about mouse models of cancer, metabolism and aging in mice.

He then moved to the laboratory of Prof. Johan Auwerx, at the EPFL, Switzerland, studying mouse models of metabolic alterations and achieving 5 publications. He returned to the CNIO after two years at the EPFL, where he combined studies on cancer with research on metabolism, publishing 9 new articles. In December 2015, he was appointed Group leader Metabolic Syndrome Group at IMDEA Food, focused on nutritional interventions against obesity, diabetes and cancer.

From this standpoint, Dr. Fernández Marcos has participated in several publications about the potential of bioactive products and fasting to improve metabolic status and to enhance chemotherapy safety and efficacy. In total, he counts with 38 publications in prestigious journals as Science, Cell, Cancer Cell, Cell Metabolism, Journal of Clinical Investigations, Nature Communications, PNAS or EMBO Journal, 9 of them as corresponding author (already from IMDEA Food) and 15 as first author

Email: pablojose.fernandez@imdea.org 
Phone: +34 91 727 81 00, ext. 209

Members

                                  

most relevant publications
  • Gabriela Desdín-Micó, Gonzalo Soto-Heredero, Juan Francisco Aranda, Jorge Oller, Elisa Carrasco, Enrique Gabandé-Rodríguez, Eva Maria Blanco, Arantzazu Alfranca, Lorena Cussó, Manuel Desco, Borja Ibañez, Arancha R Gortazar, Pablo Fernández-Marcos, Maria N Navarro, Bruno Hernaez, Antonio Alcamí, Francesc Baixauli, María Mittelbrunn. T Cells With Dysfunctional Mitochondria Induce Multimorbidity and Premature Senescence. Science (2020).
  • Arantzazu Sierra-Ramirez, José Luis López-Aceituno, Luis Filipe Costa-Machado, Adrián Plaza, Marta Barradas, Pablo Jose Fernandez-Marcos#. Aging. Transient Metabolic Improvement in Obese Mice Treated With Navitoclax or dasatinib/quercetin. (2020). #: corresponding author.
  • Triana-Martínez F, Picallos-Rabina P, Da Silva-Álvarez S, Pietrocola F, Llanos S, Rodilla V, Soprano E, Pedrosa P, Ferreirós A, Barradas M, Hernández-González F, Lalinde M, Prats N, Bernadó C, González P, Gómez M, Ikonomopoulou MP, Fernández-Marcos PJ, García-Caballero T, Del Pino P, Arribas J, Vidal A, González-Barcia M, Serrano M, Loza MI, Domínguez E, Collado M. Identification and characterization of Cardiac Glycosides as senolytic compounds. Nature Communications (2019).
  • Costa-Machado LF, Martín-Hernández R, Sanchez-Luengo MA, Hess K, Vales-Villamarin C, Barradas M, Lynch C, de la Nava D, Diaz-Ruiz A, de Cabo R, Cañamero M, Martinez L, Sanchez-Carbayo M, Herranz D#, Serrano M#, Fernandez-Marcos#. Sirt1 protects from KRas-driven lung carcinogenesis EMBO Reports (2018). #: corresponding author.
  • Nóbrega-Pereira S*, Fernandez-Marcos PJ*#, Brioche T, Gomez-Cabrera MC, Salvador-Pascual A, Flores JM, Viña J#, Serrano M#. Nat Commun. G6PD protects from oxidative damage and improves healthspan in mice (2016). *: authors contributed equally to this work. #: corresponding author.
main research grants

Principal Investigator: Pablo J. Fernandez-Marcos
Project Title:Sirtuins as biomarkers and targets in cancer: Sirt1 and Sirt3 in lung and liver carcinogenesis - SIRTBIO
Date: 2018-2021
Funded by: Asociación Española contra el Cáncer

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Participant Investigator: Pablo J. Fernandez-Marcos
Project Title: Ramón y Cajal Program. RYC-2017-22335
Date: 2018-2022
Funded by: Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities

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Participant Investigator: Pablo J. Fernandez-Marcos
Project Title: Characterization of the molecular mechanisms of short-term fasting as an enhancer of chemotherapy. SAF2017-85766-R
Date: 2018-2021
Funded by: Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness

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Participant Investigator: Pablo J. Fernandez-Marcos
Project Title: New food-derived bioactive products against obesity and diabetes
Date: 2017-2020
Funded by: Ramón Areces Foundation

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