Speaker: Dr. Manuel Fernández Rojo, Group leader of the Hepatic Regenerative Medicine Group. Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies, IMDEA 

In the Hepatic Regenerative Medicine Laboratory we are studying how nutritional interventions could constitute a feasible strategy to treat liver diseases and cancer as well as its role as adjuvants that enhance the therapeutic potential of current medicines applied in the clinic to treat hepatic disorders.  

One of our strategies is to design diets that could restore the regenerative capacity of the liver that is lost during in disease. Thus, in our lab we used several genetic- and diet-induced models of NAFLD/NASH and chemical-induced hepatocarcinogenesis in mice. These are combined with biochemical and muti-omic approaches (epigenetic, metabolomics, transcriptomics). Our final aim is to evaluate the nutritional optimization require modulating the benign (regeneration) and malignant (hepatocarcinoma) proliferation of liver cells.

Therefore, the subject of my seminar today will focus on current investigations studying how ketogenic diet could be implemented in the stimulation of liver regeneration to restore the healthspan in the liver in cases of chronic liver diseases and hepatocarcinoma. Ketogenic diet exhibits a deficient content on methionine. Methionine restriction (MR) protects against diet-induced obesity, ameliorates liver steatosis and improves glycemic control that translates in an extension of the lifespan together with a significant amelioration of age-related pathologies. Moreover, this is accompanied by alteration of the plasma concentrations of IGF-1, FGF-21, adiponectin and leptin, major nutrient- and stress-sensing hormones. Most importantly, the response to MR is conserved throughout phylogeny including humans. Therefore, I will go through our studies examining the implications of ketogenic diet in liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy and in hepatocarcinogenesis​.

Dr. Manuel A. Fernandez Rojo joined IMDEA-Food Institute in April 2017 as a “TALENTO” Fellow within the recruitment program for outstanding researchers by the Madrid Region Government. Since then, Manuel is leading the Hepatic Regenerative Medicine Group in order to design novel diet-interventions, compounds and molecular mechanism that either promote the regenerative capacity of the liver or prevent the progression of hepatic carcinogenesis Manuel obtained his degree in Biology and his PhD in Cell Biology in the IDIBAPS Institute/Faculty of Medicine at the University of Barcelona. Afterwards, he moved to Australia to continue his work in Caveolins, metabolism, liver regeneration, insulin resistance and hepatocarcinogenesis in Rob Parton’s lab in the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (The University of Queensland) and in Prof. Tiganis’ laboratory (Monash University, Melbourne). Then, he returned to Brisbane and worked in the Hepatic Fibrosis group leaded by Prof. Grant Ramm at the QIMR Berghofer exploring the involvement of the hepatic stellate cells on liver inflammation during the progression of chronic liver diseases. Manuel’s outstanding research has been recognized with the Margalef Award, the Spanish Government postdoctoral fellowship, several grants from very competitive Australia funding bodies and he is co-author in a patent. 

Host: Dr. María Martell Pérez-Alcalde,  Main researcher Liver Diseases (VHIR)

Register here to attend by Zoom https://gencat.zoom.us/j/91697526275