The Nutrition research group of the University of Murcia, presents a subline dedicated to the study of obesity, its treatment and associated metabolic disorders. This sub-line led by Prof. Marta Garaulet Aza begins in 1994, when Marta finished a Master's Degree in Public Health at Harvard, started her PhD entitled "An Approach to the Knowledge of the Molecular Bases of Obesity", led by Dr. Salvador Zamora Navarro and Dr. Francisco Javier Tébar Massó.
After reading her thesis in 1999, the research of the group has been focused on obesity, considering 3 main aspects: causes of obesity and associated metabolic alterations; Study of adipose tissue in primary cultures; Factors involved in weight loss. Thanks to the postdoctoral stay of Marta Garaulet in the Department of Obesity at the Rangueil Hospital in Toulouse, France, in 2001, our group is expert in human adipose tissue cultures. This technique is been used to date.
From 2008 and after her stay of one year in the Department of Nutrition and Genetics, Tufts University, USA, directed by José Mª Ordovás, the team began a new journey in the world of Nutrigenetic. The main objective is: to find forms of treatment of obesity specific for each person according to their genetics.
On the other hand, thanks to the collaboration of Dr. Juan Antonio Madrid, Professor of Physiology and member of the same group of Nutrition, the team has developed a line in the relationship between chronobiology, nutrition and obesity. In this sense, Marta Garaulet has been conducting annual stays of approximately 4 months in Boston (from 2008 to date) in the Department of Medicine and Neurology Neuroscientist, Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Harvard University, directed by Dr. Frank AJL Scheer and in collaboration with Dr. Richa Saxena, Associate Professor of Anaesthesia; Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Anaesthesia.
The most important contributions of the team have been the discovery of an internal clock in human adipose tissue and the importance of food timing as a predictor of weight loss. The total of the research is recorded in 174 publications, 173 in JCR, with an average impact factor of 6.758 (H: 50 index).
Our goal for the next 5 years will be the develop of the project "Impact of Melatonin, food timing and receptor variant on type 2 diabetes risk" in collaboration with Harvard University with funding from the National Institute of Health.
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