Why did you specialise in liver disease?

I have always been extremely curious about how our organism works and how it stops working when we get sick. My interest in liver disease began as early as 1990, at the end of my biology degree. I have been researching these diseases for more than 30 years because they are a serious problem that cause more than 2 million deaths per year worldwide and for which there is no effective cure yet. Better understanding of how they function is essential to prevent and cure them.

You are head of the IDIBAPS Translational Control on Liver Diseases and Cancer Group, what has it meant for you to be head of a group of these characteristics for almost two decades?

It has provided me with great personal satisfaction, as it is an incredible job that I am passionate about, and also great responsibility, because our commitment is to better understand the mechanisms of diseases so we can overcome them. 

What challenges do you face on a daily basis when leading a group like yours?

Every day, we face new challenges and problems that need to be solved. To do this, a strategy must be put forward that is effective and allows for plausible answers to specific questions. By deciphering these questions, we discover something new that makes us ask new questions. All of this allows us to generate scientific progress aimed at improving health.

What contributions has your research group made in the field of liver disease?

For more than a decade, we have concentrated our efforts on an aspect that so far has not been explored but is fundamental in terms of the development of liver disease, which is the regulation of gene expression at the translational level, that is, protein synthesis. We have discovered that alterations in this process makes liver disease worse since it promotes fibrosis, inflammation, angiogenesis, and the formation of tumours.  This scientific progress is allowing us to better understand liver diseases and identify new treatment objectives to aim for.  

Can you tell us about a project you’re carrying out right now?  

One fascinating and ambitious project we’re currently working on is to discover the reasons behind obesity, which is a real epidemic and one of the most significant health problems globally, it promotes the development of liver disease and cancer.  

As your research shows, obesity and its close links to liver disease involves health risks.  Is it possible that in the future we can live in a world where obesity barely exists?  Or is it more feasible to reduce the damage that obesity causes to our immune system? 

Obesity is one of the most serious public health problems of the 21st century.  Its prevalence is increasing at an alarming rate and affecting adults, children and young people.  People with obesity are more likely to suffer from health problems, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and liver disease, among others.  For example, liver cancer is one of the most lethal and prevalent types of cancer in the world and it is rising dramatically due to obesity. Being overweight, obese, and the diseases that are associated with that are mostly preventable, but to do that it is necessary to raise awareness in society and obtain sustained political commitments and cooperation between many of the interested parties, both public and private, to promote good health habits.  Alongside this prevention strategy, it is important to assign resources and hard work to researching the mechanisms through which obesity affects people’s health.  This knowledge will allow us to design better treatment.  

You are also a lecturer for our Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences, what can young people who want to specialise in this field learn? 

They will learn how cells and organs in the human body work, and why they stop working when a disease is present. They will learn the techniques and concepts used in biomedical research to understand the mechanisms behind diseases, and how these discoveries can translate into better treatments that benefit patients' health. They will learn to critically and rigorously evaluate their own scientific work and that of others, and to communicate it effectively to both the scientific community (technical language) and society (informative language). This is very important learning that is very intellectually stimulating.

What values can you to offer to students? 

At UIC Barcelona students have the opportunity to specialise in biomedical research, bioinformatics or biomedical enterprises, which provides many professional outlets. Biomedical scientists are at the cutting edge of everything: They can become involved in growing embryos for in vitro fertilisation, to printing a 3D heart, or finding a new medicine to fight cancer. It's an exciting job that can make a real difference in the world!

Do you fear that research to find a cure for COVID-19 will attract all the attention and take away from other biomedical research projects such as yours? If so, why?

I prefer to think that the current health crisis caused by COVID-19 has allowed us to value researchers more, has brought scientific knowledge closer to society, highlighted the importance and significance of science and the imperative need to increase investment in science to ensure the wellbeing of humankind.