CIC bioGUNE will conduct research into the metabolism of hummingbirds, capable of storing and burning fat very rapidly

CIC bioGUNE, the Centre for Cooperative Research in Biosciences, is the only Spanish scientific organisation selected in the 2016 call for applications of the Research Grant Program of the International Human Frontier Science Program Organization (HFSPO). CIC bioGUNE will conduct a study on the physiology and metabolism of hummingbirds, designed to provide a greater insight into the metabolic enzymes which enable this small bird to develop so much energy.
This 3-year project, entitled ‘Optimisation of the Metabolic Flow in the Hummingbird: From Enzymes to Ecology’, will receive 1,055,000 euros in funding from the HFSPO. The scientific interest of the research project lies in discovering exactly how the metabolism of hummingbirds works. The metabolism of these birds works at a very fast rate and has a high capacity for storing and burning fat very rapidly. Mikel Valle, PhD in Molecular Biology and project leader, believes this bird to be a metabolic athlete. “The origin of its energy can be put down to certain metabolic enzymes common to all animals but adapted to working in a different way in hummingbirds”, he explains.

The enzymes to be analysed within the project can be found at the core of the metabolism and are involved in energy regulation. Their functions are related to the production and burning of fat and sugars, so the research in question may provide data of interest on certain metabolic enzymes related to human diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cancer.

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