IRB Barcelona launches new laboratory focused on tissue regeneration

IRB Barcelona has launched the Mitochondrial Biology and Tissue Regeneration laboratory, headed by Dr. Ana Victoria Lechuga-Vieco and dedicated to studying the link between mitochondrial metabolism and several diseases. Integrated into the Aging and Metabolism Programme at IRB Barcelona, this laboratory is expected to grow to include around eight researchers by the end of the year. Dr. Lechuga-Vieco holds a Junior Group Leader Grant from “la Caixa” Foundation and has secured competitive funding from the State Research Agency (AEI).

Mitochondria, which are essential for cellular energy production, play a key role during tissue regeneration and immune system responses. Understanding how mitochondrial dysfunction affects these processes is crucial for developing new therapeutic strategies for diverse conditions closely associated with ageing, such as heart disease and cancer.

"Our goal is to unravel the underlying mechanisms that link mitochondrial health to chronic and degenerative diseases, and thereby develop more effective diagnostics and treatments to improve the quality of life of those affected by these conditions," says Dr. Lechuga-Vieco.

In recent years, institutional efforts to strengthen research into ageing and metabolism have also led to the setup of the laboratories led by Dr. Alejo Rodríguez-Fraticelli, focusing on cellular lineage and identity In ageing, and Dr. Stefanie Wculek, addressing innate immunology and metabolism. The strengthening of the Aging and Metabolism Programme reflects the Institute's strategic investment in these cutting-edge areas of science.

Goals of the new laboratory

The new laboratory studies how various mitochondrial signalling pathways influence immune responses related to tumour processes, heart disease, and mitochondrial disorders. The main research areas are as follows:

• Intercellular Communication and Tissue Pathophysiology: Addresses how the loss of mitochondrial function associated with ageing deteriorates the functioning of the immune system and organs with high energy demands.
• Mitochondrial Quality Control Mechanisms: Studies the regulation of mitochondrial inner membrane health under conditions of cellular stress, which are very frequent in ageing.
• Mitochondrial Therapies: Develop innovative strategies to reverse the ageing and deterioration of immune defense T cells, and to prevent and reverse tissue damage, using preclinical models.

Dr. Ana Victoria Lechuga-Vieco's career

Dr. Ana Victoria Lechuga-Vieco is a biotechnologist (Pablo de Olavide University, 2012) with extensive experience in mitochondrial biology, tissue homeostasis and immunology. She obtained her PhD in Molecular Biomedicine (Autonomous University of Madrid, 2018) under the supervision of Drs. José Antonio Enríquez and Jesús Ruíz-Cabello at the National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) in Madrid, where she studied mitochondrial genetics in physiology and pathology.

In 2020, she joined Dr. Vincenzo Cerundolo's laboratory at the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford to study the impact of mitochondrial genetics on anti-tumour immunity and novel targeted immunotherapies. Subsequently, she joined Dr. Katja Simon's laboratory at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology (University of Oxford) through EMBO funding to explore how autophagy regulates mitochondrial quality control and CD8 T cell differentiation programs.

Dr. Lechuga-Vieco's work has been published in high-impact scientific journals, including studies on mitochondrial DNA heteroplasmy and its relationship with heart disease and cellular ageing, thus highlighting the relevance and potential of her research to transform biomedicine.

With the establishment of Dr. Lechuga-Vieco´s laboratory, IRB Barcelona has launched six new labs in the last four years, all led by distinguished young researchers. These laboratories are dedicated to pioneering fields of research, such as targeted protein degradation, stem cell memory, epigenetics in haematopoiesis, immunity and leukaemia, inflammation and cellular plasticity in cancer, and vulnerabilities in paediatric cancer. In addition to these six new research groups, three joint basic-clinical groups have been established under the TRIP-Clinics initiative, co-funded by the “la Caixa” Foundation and the Government of Catalonia.