Antonio Vidal-Puig
Professor of Molecular Nutrition & Metabolism
Email: ajv22@medschl.cam.ac.uk
PA Name: Katie Fisher
PA Email: klk30@medschl.cam.ac.uk
Twitter: @TVPLab
Webpage: https://www.tvplab-cambridge.com/
Biography
Prof Vidal-Puig is the Professor of Molecular Nutrition and Metabolism at Cambridge University and an Honorary Consultant in Metabolic Medicine at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge. Director of Cardiometabolic Programme at the Heart and Lung Research Institute. He is Deputy Director of the MRC Institute of Metabolic Science, a member of the Cambridge University Nanjing Centre for Technology and Innovation, an Honorary Professor at Nanjing University (China), Soochow University (China) and Chiba University (Japan) and Faculty at Centro de Investigacion Principe Felipe in Valencia (Spain)and the Toh Chin Chye Visiting Professor at the National University of Singapore. He is also a Chair of the Life Sciences Panel and a recipient of a Principal Investigator award of the European Research Council. His research programme focuses on the molecular mechanisms of lipid-induced insulin resistance and on developing strategies to prevent the deleterious cardiometabolic effects of lipids, specifically by modulating fatty acid oxidation and thermogenic mechanisms. Prof Vidal-Puig has received important awards such as Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Hippocrates International for Nutrition Research (RAM Principado Asturias), FEBS National Lecturer, Society of Endocrinology Medal, and Career Distinguished Award Lilly Fundacion and Doctor honoris causa from the King Juan Carlos University, Madrid.Vidal-Puig is also interested in developing strategies and innovative approaches to management in academic research-intensive institutions. He graduated with an MBA from the Judge Business School of the University of Cambridge and aims to translate the knowledge available in other business-related areas into academic management.
Research Approach:
Our research program investigates the link between obesity and cardiometabolic complications.
- Whether defects in adipose tissue associated with obesity cause cardiometabolic complications determined by lipotoxicity and fibroinflammatory changes.
- Whether defective lipid metabolism in adipose tissue and liver macrophages determines the degree of fibroinflammation in cardiometabolic targets such as adipose tissue, liver and myocardium.
- Whether activation of thermogenesis mediated by the brown adipose tissue is an excellent therapeutic approach to prevent cardiometabolic complications.
Whether modifications in adipogenesis and remodeling of adipose tissue may be good strategies to ameliorate the metabolic effects associated with obesity.
To address these challenges is a daunting task that requires the modulation of highly integrated and complex mechanisms of energy homeostasis designed to prevent negative energy balances. According to this integrated energy homeostasis concept, my laboratory uses an Integrated Physiology approach that relies significantly upon the generation and detailed in vivo phenotyping of genetically modified organisms.
Also, we use human stem cells coupled with a Systems Biology approach integrating transcriptomic and lipidomic analysis, using bioinformatics to identify organ-specific lipid metabolic networks relevant to insulin resistance and metabolic disease.
Current projects:
- Understanding the role of lipid remodelling in the regulation of human brown adipogenesis by exploiting a stem cell-based system
- Metabolic determinants of heart failure: elucidation of the link between non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and heart failure
- Targeting macrophage lipid metabolism to dissociate obesity from cardiovascular risk
- Adipose tissue dysfunction and Lipotoxicity
Selected Publications:
- I Kamzolas, M Vacca, L Mørch Harder, S Rodriguez-Cuenca, L Tiniakos, ... A Vidal-Puig. An unbiased ranking of murine dietary models based on their proximity to human Metabolic Dysfunction–associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD). Nat Metab. 2024 Jun 12. doi: 10.1038/s42255-024-01043-6. PMID: 38867022
- Luka Gebel, Chander Velu & Antonio Vidal-Puig. The strategy behind one of the most successful labs in the world (2024) Nature in press
- Pellegrinelli, V., Rodriguez-Cuenca, S., Rouault, C. Vidal-Puig A. Dysregulation of macrophage PEPD in obesity determines adipose tissue fibro-inflammation and insulin resistance. Nat Metab 4, 476–494 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-022-00561-5. PMID: 35478031
- Bidault G, Virtue S, Petkevicius K, Jolin H, Dugourd A, Guénantin AC, Leggat J, Mahler-Araujo B, Lam BY Marcella K. Ma, Dale M, Carobbio S, Kaser A, Fallon PG, Saez-Rodriguez J, McKenzie ANJ and Vidal-Puig A. SREBP1-induced fatty acid synthesis depletes macrophages antioxidant defenses to promote their alternative activation. Nat Metab. 2021 Sep;3(9):1150-1162. doi: 10.1038/s42255-021-00440-5. Epub 2021 Sep 16. PMID: 34531575
- Carobbio S, Guenantin AC, Bahri M, Rodriguez-Fdez S, Honig F, Kamzolas I, Samuelson I, Long K, Awad S, Lukovic D, Erceg S, Bassett A, Mendjan S, Vallier L, Rosen BS, Chiarugi D, Vidal-Puig A. Unraveling the developmental roadmap toward human brown adipose tissue. Stem Cell Reports. 2021 Feb 6:S2213-6711(21)00043-6. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2021.01.013. PMID: 33606988
Research collaborators/links
Internal
Dr Wei Li
Prof Thomas Krieg
Dr Ana Vujic
Prof Andrew Grace
Professor Sadaf Farooqi
Professor Sue Ozanne
