Autophagy and the regulation of body weight. Autophagy is a process of cellular self-digestion mediated by the lysosomes. In neurons of the hypothalamus, a key brain region in the regulation of body weight, autophagy is responsible for maintaining body weight by controlling food intake and energy expenidure. Our research objective is to understand the cellular mechanisms that control autophagy in the hypothalamus in response to high-fat diets, and in particular to the saturated fatty acids that are abundant in this type of diet and that accumulate in the brain when these are consumed. Role of the primary cilium in the sensing of nutrients. The primary cilium is a cellular antenna that in neurons functios as an extrasynaptic signaling center and a signaling platform. We show that this organelle can respond to fatty acids, regulating insulin signaling in neurons. Our research objective is to better understand the role of the primary cilium in the brain in the control of cellular metabolism and its involvement in the onset of metabolic diseases.

Dr Eugenia Morselli completed her PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Paris Sur (France). Upon completion, she undertook a Postdoctoral position at the Touchstone Diabetes Center of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Texas, USA), where she studied the role of Estrogen Receptor alpha in hypothalamic neurons in the onset of high fat diet-induced inflammation. She moved to Chile in 2014, where she was assistant and then associated professor of the Department of Physiology of the Faculty of Biological Sciences of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Since February 2022, she is Associate Professor of the Faculty of Medicine and Sciences of the Universidad San Sebastián.

Cell Biology; General Biochemistry; Formulation of Scientific Projects; Title Seminar; Research Unit