The Nutrigenomics group from the URV aims to generate general knowledge oriented to design functional foods able to prevent, delay or alleviate metabolic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension and metabolic syndrome. In addition, the research group also aims to obtain functional ingredients from natural sources in order to increase the value of several by-products.
The group has a wide experience working as a team. It is an interdisciplinary group formed by experts in the field of nutrition and its relation to various aspects of metabolism (oxidative lipid, the glucose, etc.).
The group works using both in vitro and in vivo techniques. The in vitro techniques allow us to describe and analyze the changes caused by naturally occurring molecules in major metabolic pathways. Moreover, these techniques also allow us to analyse gene expression patterns in the tissues involved in the diseases under study. On the other hand, in vivo experimentation allows us to evaluate the effectiveness of the selected natural molecules in laboratory animals which have been led to a pathological situation. To achieve these aims, the research group works with the most leading omics techniques.