About 600 experts in Tarragona reveal the secret of Internal Clocks

Researchers gathered in Tarragona have presented new results on circadian clocks and chrononutrition. These studies explain how the time of day can influence hunger, metabolism, and the body’s response.

Over four days, around 600 national and international experts have shared advances on molecular processes related to cancer, Parkinson’s, aging, and metabolic health. The issue is not only what happens inside the body, but also when it happens.

Internal Clocks that Order Hunger and Metabolism

For readers in Tarragona, the research presented has a clear consequence: biological rhythms are part of daily life and can modify the way the body responds to food, light, and environmental changes. It is not a distant theory; it is the body setting schedules without consulting the agenda.

What are Circadian Clocks?

Circadian clocks are internal mechanisms that regulate physiological and behavioral functions throughout the day. Henrik Oster, director of the Institute of Neurobiology at the University of Lübeck, explained in Tarragona that these clocks act in different tissues and interrelate with the endocrine system.

The research presented by Oster focuses on how local clocks of specific neuronal cells connect with more general factors of the organism. This interaction can modulate daily rhythms, response to environmental changes, and the ability to withstand assaults that, over time, can lead to diseases.

The researcher explained that his team has identified two different clocks in the brain that regulate diverse aspects of hunger. One is located in the hypothalamus and controls homeostatic hunger, linked to replenishing energy needs.

The other clock is situated in the dopaminergic neurons of the VTA and regulates hedonic hunger. Simply put, it is involved in the response to sweet or salty foods and helps explain why a person may feel like eating even when full. Biology, at times, has a rather questionable sense of humor.

Why Can the Time of Eating Change the Body’s Response?

Chrononutrition studies the relationship between biological rhythms, nutrition, and metabolic health. The idea presented at the congress is straightforward: eating a food early in the day does not necessarily produce the same effect as eating it late in the day.

Gerard Aragonès, professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology at the Rovira i Virgili University and co-chair of the organizing committee, emphasized that the time of day and the season can have a direct impact on behavior and metabolism.

Presentations by Olga Ramich, from the University of Potsdam-Rehbrücke, and Gisela Helfer, from the University of Bradford, showcased studies with animals subjected to very short light photoperiods. According to Aragonès, the results show that these animals are metabolically very different.

Therefore, chrononutrition is not limited to the usual question of what we eat. It also examines when we ingest nutrients, how the body absorbs them, and what effect they may have on health. The next step in research is to identify the molecular pathways that connect the clocks of each tissue with behavior and physiological regulation.

From Adipose Tissue to Ovarian Cancer

This line of work is especially interesting because it examines a relationship between two parts of the body that are often studied separately: adipose tissue and tumor cells. In Tarragona, research brought to the table how cells that store fat can interact with cancer and the body’s defenses.

What Are Teams Investigating About Adipose Tissue?

Aina Lluch, a biomedical researcher from the University of Marburg, is participating in a tumor immunology group during her postdoctoral work. Her team studies the relationship between adipose tissue and ovarian cancer, paying special attention to adipocytes.

Adipocytes are the majority cells in adipose tissue and serve the function of storing fat. The scientific question is how they interact with cancer cells and immune cells, which are part of the body’s defense system.

This interaction can affect, regulate, or favor the establishment of cancer. Lluch explained that first results have already shown that adipose tissue has effects, although the source does not yet specify the exact extent or complete mechanism of these effects.

The nuance is important. The research does not present a definitive conclusion on ovarian cancer treatment, but rather a line of study that aims to clarify how adipose tissue, tumor cells, and the immune system communicate.

How Can These Discoveries Be Turned Into Treatments?

The congress included new strategies to develop treatments, among which is the application of artificial intelligence to drug design. This tool is being studied as a possible aid to address widespread diseases, but researchers have also analyzed its limitations and the new models that are emerging.

The central issue is not to attach the AI acronym to any process and consider it solved. Specialists have raised how to verify that results work correctly and how to ensure that the proposals generated are useful for biomedical research.

In a meeting dedicated to molecular and cellular processes, this perspective connects multiple scales: from fat-accumulating cells to mechanisms that can lead to disease. It also shows how current biology combines experimental observation, metabolism study, and computational tools.

What Has Been Presented at the Tarragona Congress?

For the university and scientific community of the region, the event has turned Tarragona into a meeting point for very diverse research. The 48th International Congress of the Spanish Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology was co-organized by the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology at URV and brought together about 600 specialists.

What Areas Have Researchers Shared?

The symposia and conferences have addressed molecular and cellular processes that explain the functioning of the body and the origin of numerous diseases. Topics covered include cancer, Parkinson’s, biological rhythms, nutrition, metabolic health, and molecular mechanisms of aging.

• Circadian clocks and interaction with the endocrine system.
• Chrononutrition and the effect of meal timing.
• Relationship between adipose tissue and ovarian cancer.
• Application of artificial intelligence to drug design.
• Molecular processes linked to aging and various diseases.

Transversality has been one of the highlights noted by Gerard Aragonès. The investigations start from different questions but share the same idea: the organism does not function as a set of isolated parts. Tissues, hormonal signals, daily rhythms, and the environment maintain a constant conversation.

How Has the Scientific Meeting Closed?

The congress closes this Thursday with several meetings of SEBBM working groups. The closing lecture will be given by John F. Cryan, principal investigator at APC Microbiome Ireland.

His talk will be dedicated to the potential of gut microorganisms to understand and treat problems related to mental health. The session broadens the range of topics at the meeting and keeps the focus on the relationship between biological processes and body functions.

From the two brain clocks that regulate different forms of hunger to the communication between adipocytes and tumor cells, the research presented in Tarragona points in one clear direction: health depends as much on what we do as on when the body receives, interprets, and responds to signals. Chrononutrition, circadian clocks, ovarian cancer, and artificial intelligence are part of the same scientific conversation that still has many open questions.

Source of the article: Mar Rovira / Catalan News Agency