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EURAXESS

MSCA-IF: Joint application at the University of Granada. Department of Physiology.

International Research Projects Office
10 Mar 2020

Hosting Information

Offer Deadline
EU Research Framework Programme
H2020 / Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
Country
Spain
City
Granada

Organisation/Institute

Organisation / Company
International Research Projects Office
Department
Promotion and Advisory Unit
Laboratory
NA
Is the Hosting related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?
No

Contact Information

Organisation / Company Type
Other
Website
Email
jmporres@ugr.es
State/Province
Granada
Postal Code
18071
Street
Gran Vía de Colón, 48, 2nd floor
Phone

Description

Professor Jesús M. Porres, from the Department of Physiology at the University of Granada, welcomes postdoctoral candidates interested in applying for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (MSCA-IF) in 2020 at this University. Please note that applicants must comply with the Mobility Rule (more information: http://sl.ugr.es/0aNV).

Brief description of the institution:

The University of Granada (UGR), founded in 1531, is one of the largest and most important universities in Spain. The UGR has been awarded with the "Human Resources Excellence in Research (HRS4R)", which reflects the UGR’s commitment to continuously improve its human resource policies in line with the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. The UGR is also a leading institution in research, located in the top 5/10 of Spanish universities by a variety of ranking criteria, such as national R&D projects, fellowships awarded, publications, or international funding.

UGR is one of the few Spanish Universities listed in the Shanghai Top 500 ranking (http://sl.ugr.es/0aw0). The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) places the UGR in 268th position in the world and as the 4th highest ranked University in Spain, reaffirming its position as an institution at the forefront of national and international research. From the perspective of specialist areas in the ARWU rankings, the UGR is outstanding in Documentation (ranked in the 36th in the world) or Food science technology (ranked 37th in the world), Mathematics and Computer Science (ranked among the top 76-100 in the world).

The UGR has 4 researchers at the top of the Highly Cited Researchers (HCR) list in the Computer Science area. With regard to broader subject fields, the UGR is ranked in 45th position in the universities worldwide in the discipline of Engineering. It is also well recognized for its web presence (http://sl.ugr.es/0a6i) taking 36th place in the top 200 Universities in Europe. Internationally, we bet decidedly by our participation in the calls of the Framework Programme of the European Union. For the duration of the last two Framework Programmes, the UGR has obtained a total of 66 projects, with total funding of 18.02 million euros, and for H2020, 80 projects with total funding around 20.6 million euros.

Brief description of the Centre/Research Group

Dr Jesus M. Porres conducts research within a research group in the framework of the Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology and the Institute of Sport and Health (UGR). The components of the research group have ample experience in the development of animal experimental models of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and related comorbidities, as well as in the implementation of combined interventions with functional foods and physical exercise to study the conditions mentioned above. Their studies have been funded by several grants awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and by Junta de Andalucía. The research group has worked for many years on the development and nutritional assessment of functional foods from legumes and in different types of fiber, for the treatment of obesity and metabolic syndrome, with special emphasis on the relevant molecular mechanisms that were tested in hypercholesterolemic, genetic obesity, or spontaneously hypertensive rat experimental models. the group is actually working on the development of plant-based nutraceuticals designed from novel plant seeds, which will be tested in a new experimental model of diet-induced obesity (high-fat diet and refined sugars), combining its intake with a HIIT protocol, since the integration of both interventions could enhance the benefits exhibited individually. The aim of our research is to study in depth several novel aspects related to the development of nutraceuticals with stronger beneficial effects as well as the molecular mechanisms associated to the biological effects of the interventions tested.

Project description

The MSCA-IF researcher will conduct research in our research line aimed to develop novel nutraceuticals for the treatment of obesity and metabolic syndrome in association with high-intensity training protocols, focusing particularly on i) the chemical characterization of bioactive component profile as well as the anti-steatotic and anti-inflammatory effect of functional extracts and their combinations as nutraceuticals in liver cell cultures, together with the characterization of antioxidant activity in colonic cells. ii) the in vivo study of hepatic transcriptome profile, morphological alterations related to obesity and detection of the main markers associated with NAFLD. iii) the analysis of intestinal microbiota and its relationship with the inflammatory process in different organs (liver, adipose tissue and bone) in response to diet-induced obesity and the therapeutical interventions tested. This research line is framed on a multidisciplinary collaboration based on the work by team members of the University of Granada in collaboration with researchers from Vienna Medical University and Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. We aim to contribute to addressing the following current problems of society: 1.- The increase in prevalence of diseases related to unhealthy lifestyles such as a continuous intake of unbalanced diets high in refined sugars and saturated fat, and the prevalence of sedentary lifestyle and lack of regular physical activity. 2.- The increased risk of osteoarthritis and alterations of the organic matrix in bone as a consequence of inappropriate lifestyles, which promotes a higher incidence of fractures. We intend to verify the possible improvement of bone functionality as a result of the combined treatment proposed to combat obesity.

Research Area

Life Sciences (LIFE)

For a correct evaluation of your candidature, please send the documents below to Professor Jesús M. Porres (jmporres@ugr.es):

  • CV
  • Letter of recommendation (optional)