News
Mid-Term review meeting and report
Actually the consortium is preparing the mid-term review meeting and report in order to present the development and results of the ADIBET Project to the European Commission.
The secondments are running
The exchanges of staff that the ADIBET Project planned at the beginning have started to be implemented. Are you interested in a Postdoctoral position? ADIBET consortium offers two recruitments for postdoctoral researchers to start immediately. If you are interested in more information consult the Jobs section and/or contact us.
Job opportunities
Opened the IDIBAPS Postdoctoral position to study the role of the adipose tissue in beta cell function and mass
ADIBET Project is searching a post-doctoral researcher with an experience from 4 to 10 years in order to start a nearly 2 year period in the Diabetes and Obesity Lab in IDIBAPS – Barcelona under the leadership of Prof. Ramon Gomis. Send your application: adibet.idibaps@gmail.com.
Opened the Warwick Postdoctoral position to study the role of the adipose tissue in beta cell function and mass
ADIBET Project is searching a post-doctoral researcher with an experience from 4 to 10 years in order to start a nearly 2 year period in the laboratory of Mike Khan and Stella Pelengaris in the University of Warwick. Send your application: adibet.warwick@gmail.com.
The project
Obesity is an emerging threat to European health and more effective and sustainable therapies are urgently needed to tackle it. Adipose tissue is acknowledged to be a key player in lipid metabolism and play multiple roles in regulating whole-body physiology, through the secretion of hormones called adipokines. Currently adipokine secretion and its mediated crosstalk with other tissues is a knowledge gap.
The general aim of the consortium is to develop new knowledge in this field and identify druggable targets by unravelling the molecular basis of adipose tissue regulation and crosstalk in vivo.
ADIBET will take on 2 complementary tasks:
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Describe the EFFECT of obesity on differential adipocyte |
ADIBET consortium will analyze the changes in adipocyte function and adipokine secretion occurring during evolution of obesity and progression to type 2 diabetes and characterize the effects of such changes on beta cell mass and function in vitro and in relevant models in vivo. The consortium will also study differential responses to targeted manipulation of key selected genes in genetically altered mouse models in vivo (taking into consideration the environmental factors that can affect the adipokine-mediated crosstalk).
During the project a wide range of techniques will be used: post-genome technologies such as conditional genetically altered mice, DNA arrays, proteomics, metabolomics, RNAi.
OBESITY Overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health. A crude population measure of obesity is the body mass index (BMI), a person’s weight (in kilograms) divided by the square of his or her height (in metres). A person with a BMI of 30 or more is generally considered obese. A person with a BMI equal to or more than 25 is considered overweight.
Overweight and obesity are major risk factors for a number of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Once considered a problem only in high income countries, overweight and obesity are now dramatically on the rise in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in urban settings.
http://www.who.int/topics/obesity/en and
http://www.euro.who.int/obesity
DIABETES MELLITUSDiabetes mellitus is a chronic condition that occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Hyperglycaemia and other related disturbances in the body’s metabolism can lead to serious damage to many of the body’s systems, especially the nerves and blood vessels.
There are two basic forms of diabetes:
Type 1: people with this type of diabetes produce very little or no insulin.
Type 2: people with this type of diabetes cannot use insulin effectively.
Most people with diabetes have type 2.
A third type of diabetes, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), develops during some cases of pregnancy but usually disappears after pregnancy.
People with type 1 diabetes require daily injections of insulin to survive. People with type 2 diabetes can sometimes manage their condition with lifestyle measures alone, but oral drugs are often required, and less frequently insulin, in order to achieve good metabolic control.
ADIBET will focus its activity mainly on Type 2 diabetes.
WHO IS AT RISK – TYPE 2 DIABETES?1. Adults and children who are overweight or obese and are physically inactive:
Weight gain may result in insulin resistance in which the body is unable to use the insulin it produces effectively. At the same time, physical inactivity, both a cause and consequence of weight gain, also contributes to insulin resistance. The problem of obesity and overweight is extending to developing countries, especially in urban areas.
2. Certain ethnic groups
Ethnicity is an important risk factor with, for example, higher rates of type 2 diabetes reported in people of Asian and African origin, and in indigenous peoples of the Americas and Australasia.
3. Individuals with a family history of diabetes
Studies have shown that people who have a strong family history of diabetes, such as in a parent or sibling, are at high risk of developing diabetes.
4. Women who have had gestational diabetes mellitus
Women who developed diabetes during pregnancy are at greater risk of type 2 diabetes later in life. In general, the number of men and women with diabetes is similar until old age (over 65 years) when more women have diabetes.
