COINS Seminar #60【Date】October/7/2021 (Thu.) 16:00-17:30 (The web meeting room will be open at 15:45) in Japan Standard Time.
【Venue】ZOOM webinar *web conferencing software. we will let you know URL by the day before.
【Registration】URL: https://coins.kawasaki-net.ne.jp/form/seminar60/index.html
Title︓

Targeting neurons: more brain than brawn to solve obesity
Abstract︓
The alarming global increase of obesity and related complications suggests an urgent
need for new therapeutic strategies. Strong evidence shows that obesity and diabetes
are regulated by hypothalamic neurons, creating a new paradigm in the managementof these diseases by targeting neurons. Up to now, neuron-related diseases are notadequately treated due to the lack of approaches to effectively reach specific cell
populations. A major obstacle to improve clinical outcomes of central therapies relieson the inability to deliver therapeutically relevant doses of the drug/cargo to diseased
cells or regions. Other factors such as blood brain barrier crossing, off target effects,
toxicity and chemical instability also limit the treatment of these pathologies.
Nanomedicine-based approaches provide promising opportunities for overcoming
these limitations.
Speaker︓ Rosalia Rodriguez-Rodriguez, PhD
Affiliation︓Universitat Internacional de Catalunya(UIC Barcelona)
Position︓Associate Professor,
Head of the Biomedical Sciences Degree
URL︓https://www.uic.es/neurolipid-grouphttps://www.uic.es/en/teacher/rrodriguez＜CV＞
Rosalia Rodriguez-Rodriguez is Associate Professor in Pharmacology at the Universitat
Internacional de Catalunya in Barcelona. She currently leads the research line
“Hypothalamic regulation of obesity” in the Neurolipid Group and is the Head of theBiomedical Sciences Degree. Her research interests are the neuronal control of obesityand associated complications such as diabetes and vascular diseases and thedevelopment of new therapies to target neurons.
She obtained the PhD in Pharmacology by the University of Sevilla (Spain) in 2006,
investigating the beneficial effects of olive oil triterpenoids in hypertension andatherosclerosis. Part of the research was performed with Prof. Ulf Simonsen in Aarhus
University (Denmark) and Prof. Lina Badimón (ICCC Barcelona). In 2007, she joined
the group of Dr. Kim Dora (University of Bath and Oxford University, UK) as a postdoc to explore the mechanisms that regulate myogenic tone in microvessels. In 20102014 worked as assistant professor in Pharmacology Department (University ofSevilla) to characterize vascular and adipose tissue alterations in obesity and dietbased approaches.
Since 2014 she works in UIC Barcelona, when she studies neural lipid metabolism
and its importance in obesity, with particular interest on carnitine
palmitoyltransferases (CPT1) and endocannabinoid hydrolases as therapeutic targets.

She is now PI of a bilateral project with Dr Quader in Japan to target CPT1 withnanomedicines and PI of a National project to study neuronal obesity. She alsocollaborates in projects related to development of organ-on-a-chip to study obesityand vascular diseases. She is Associate Editor of the section “Obesity” in Frontiers.
Selected publications:
Paraiso WKD, Garcia-Chica J, Ariza X, Zagmutt S, Fukushima S, Garcia J, Mochida Y,Serra D, Herrero L, Kinoh H, Casals N, Kataoka K, Rodríguez-Rodríguez R, Quader
S. Poly-ion complex micelles effectively deliver CoA-conjugated CPT1A inhibitors tomodulate lipid metabolism in brain cells. Biomater Sci. 2021 Aug 16.
Miralpeix, C.; Reguera, A.; Fosch, A.; Casas, M.; Lillo, J.; Navarro, G.; Franco, R.;
Casas, J.; Alexander, S.P.H.; Casals, N; Rodriguez-Rodriguez, R. Carnitine
palmitoyltransferase 1C negatively regulates the endocannabinoid hydrolase ABHD6in mice, depending on nutritional status. British Journal of Pharmacology 2021,178(7):1507-1523.
Garcia-Chica, J.; Paraiso, W.; Tanabe, S.; Serra, D.; Herrero, L.; Casals, N; Garcia, J.;
Ariza, X.; Quader, S.; Rodriguez-Rodriguez, R. An overview of nanomedicines forneuron targeting. Nanomedicine 2020, 15(16): 1617-1636.
Miralpeix, C.; Fosch, A.; Casas, J.; Baena, M.; Herrero, L.; Serra, D.; RodriguezRodriguez, R.; Casals, N. Hypothalamic endocannabinoids inversely correlate withthe development of diet-induced obesity in male and female mice. Journal of lipid
research 2019, 60(7): 1260-1269.
Rodriguez-Rodriguez, R.; Miralpeix, C.; Fosch, A.; Pozo Ariza, M; Calderón
Domínguez, M.; Perpinyà, X.; Vellvehi, M.; López, M.; Herrero, L.; Serra, D.; Casals,N. CPT1C in the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus is necessary for brown fat
thermogenesis activation in obesity. Molecular Metabolism 2019, 19:75-85.
＜Key words＞
Obesity; Diabetes; Hypothalamus; Lipid metabolism; Diet; CPT1; Neuron*Supported by: COINS（JST, COIProgram）, Innovation Center of NanoMedicine（iCONM）