Assistant Professor
Contact info: blizarbe@iib.uam.es.
Research Group: Biomedical Magnetic Resonance.
My research is centered in probing frontier Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Spectroscopy (MRS) approaches to investigate cerebral functions in vivo, with an emphasis in the control of global energy balance and brain metabolism, obesity development and metabolic disorders.
Graduated in Physics (2008) and Master in Biomedical Physics (2009), during my PhD at the Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas "Alberto Sols" (IIBm), in Madrid (CSIC/UAM), I developed novel functional diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) and MRS strategies to detect appetite-induced changes in the rodent and human brains, proposing the astroglial coupling hypothesis as the basis of DWI changes. During this period, I was a visiting PhD-student at the Imperial College of London and Hammersmith Hospital, and in such collaboration I helped unraveling the role of dietary acetate as a central homeostatic regulator.
After earning a doctorate degree in Biophysics in October 2013, I moved to the Laboratory of Functional and Metabolic Imaging of the École Polytechnique Fédéral de Lausanne Switzerland), remaining there until July 2018. My postdoctoral research involved the use of enriched isotopes in combination with advanced MRS at ultra-high field (14.1T), to evaluate hypothalamic metabolism during obesity development in rodents. We showed that dietary manipulations affect the dynamics of the tricarboxylic acid and glutamate-glutamine cycles in the hypothalamus. I was responsible of the technical development of MR methodologies and associated radiofrequency coils, formulation of mathematical models of brain metabolism, conception of models of energy balance.
In September 2018 I returned to the IIBm to extend my research on MR methods to investigate brain energy metabolism, focusing on the identification of MRI and MRS biomarkers of obesity-induced neuroinflammation and the effects of its reversal, as well in the implementation of integrative multivariate data analysis models. In parallel, ultrasensitive HRMAS sequences to perform indirect 13C MRS measurements of hypothalamic metabolism are being designed.
1. Guadilla I, Lizarbe B, Barrios L., Cerdan S, Lopez-Larrubia P. Integrative Analysis of Physiological Responses to High Fat Feeding with Diffusion Tensor Images and Neurochemical Profiles of the Mouse Brain. IJO (2021) IF: 4.4 (Q1) (doi: 10.1038/s41366-021-00775-9)
2. Lizarbe B*, Campillo BW, Guadilla I, López-Larrubia P, Cerdan S*. Magnetic resonance assessment of the cerebral alterations associated with obesity development. JCBFM (2020). IF: 5.787 (Q1). (doi: 10.1177/0271678X20941263)
3. Lizarbe B*, Fernandez-Perez A., Caz V., Largo C., Vallejo M., López-Larrubia P, Cerdán S. Systemic Glucose Administration Alters Water Diffusion and Microvascular Blood Flow in Mouse Hypothalamic Nuclei. An fMRI study. Front Neurosci (2019). IF:3.87 (Q1) (doi:10.3389/fnins.2019.00921)
4. Lizarbe B, Soares AF, Larsson S, Duarte JMN. Neurochemical Modifications in the Hippocampus, Cortex and Hypothalamus of Mice Exposed to Long-Term High-Fat Diet. Front Neurosci (2018) https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2018.00985. IF:3.87 (Q1)
5. Lizarbe B*, Cherix A, Duarte JMN, Cardinaux JR, Gruetter R. High-fat diet consumption alters energy metabolism in the mouse hypothalamus. IJO (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-018-0224-9. IF: 5.15 (Q1)
6. Lizarbe B*, Lei H, Duarte JMN, Lanz B, Cherix A, Gruetter R. Feasibility of in vivo measurement of glucose metabolism by 1H-[13C] MRS at 14.1 T in the mouse hypothalamus. Magn Reson Med. 2018. doi: 10.1002/mrm.27129. Epub 2018 Feb 9. IF: 4.08 (Q1)
7. Frost G, Sleeth ML, Sahuri-Arisoylu M, Lizarbe B et al. The short-chain fatty acid acetate reduces appetite via a central homeostatic mechanism. Nat Commun. 2014 Apr 29;5:3611. doi: 10.1038/ncomms4611. IF: 12.35 (Q1)
8. Lizarbe B, Benitez A, Peláez Brioso GA, Sánchez-Montañés M, López-Larrubia P, Ballesteros P, Cerdán S. Hypothalamic metabolic compartmentation during appetite regulation as revealed by magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy methods. Front in Neuroenergetics JUN 2013, Article number 6.
9. Lizarbe B, Benítez A, Sánchez-Montañés M, Lago-Fernández LF, Garcia-Martin ML, López-Larrubia P, Cerdán S. Imaging hypothalamic activity using diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging in the mouse and human brain. Neuroimage. 2013 Jan 1;64:448-57. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.09.033. Epub 2012 Sep 19. IF:5.43 (Q1).