On 26 September, the Institute for Catalan Studies hosted the symposium Novel Functions of Stat5 Proteins in Adipocytes, organised by the Catalan Biology Society. The main purpose of the event, which was attended by numerous professionals from the field of metabolism and obesity, was to showcase the latest studies in this area of biology. 

 

As part of the symposium, Dr Núria Casals delivered a conference entitled “Time profile of hypothalamic endocannabinoids in response to a high fat diet”, during which she presented the latest findings from one of the studies conducted by the research group she directs: Regulation of Lipid Metabolism in Obesity and Diabetes. According to Dr Casals, “we performed a study on mice to see how endocannabinoid levels in the hypothalamus varied following the prolonged consumption of a high fat diet, until the onset of obesity in the rodents. The most relevant piece of data we obtained shows us that endocannabinoids play a key role in regulating metabolism, as they act on the hypothalamus, the region of the brain that regulates our body’s energy use”.