Today in the La Vanguardia newspaper, Josep Corbella devotes an article to Barcelona's support of research with applications in regenerative medicine. Among the labs mentioned, the article makes reference to the Cellular Plasticity and Disease Laboratory of Manuel Serrano, which will study the repair mechanisms of damaged tissue for biomedical applications in several diseases, with a particular emphasis on diabetes, lung fibrosis and cardiac fibrosis. The new lab at IRB Barcelona, which was inaugurated this month, is funded by the Obra Social "la Caixa" and the ICREA Programme of the Government of Catalonia.
The Diari de Girona gives voice to the study of the group of the ICREA researcher Salvador Aznar Benitah on the rhythmic functions of stem cells. This study refutes the commonly held belief that aging is associated with the loss of the circadian rhythm of stem cells. In this regard, it reveals that these cells continue to work rhythmically during aging, although their functions are reprogrammed during this period.
Several media, including Catalonia's public television channel TV3, have echoed research on stem cell circadian rhythm headed by Salvador Aznar Benitah at IRB Barcelona and done in collaboration with the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and the University of California, Irvine (US).
Published in Cell, the two studies reject the scientific dogma associating ageing with the loss of stem cell circadian rhythm and explain why a calorie restriction diet slows down ageing.
Stem cell functions continue to be governed by day and night cycles (circadian rhythms) during ageing, but their rhythms become devoted to tissue repair and not to the maintenance of tissue tone.
The two studies published in Cell and headed by Salvador Aznar Benitah at IRB Barcelona reject the scientific dogma associating ageing with the loss of stem cell circadian rhythm.
A low-calorie diet delays alterations in the rhythmic functions of stem cells and slows down ageing.
