Talk on Friday March 3rd by Graca Soveral

Since the discovery of aquaporins that research related to these membrane channels has never ceased growing. The classical water channels were found to have a much broader selectivity than initially expected, facilitating the transmembrane diffusion of many other small molecules, ions, and gases, and to be modulated by unique mechanisms allowing fine tuning of their activity. In addition, aquaporin participation in cellular processes such as cell proliferation and migration highlighted their importance and their role as essential channels for life. A vast array of human disorders has been correlated with aquaporin dysregulation, missorting or mutations, unveiling their essential role in health and disease. The crucial role of aquaporins in kidney disease, brain oedema, metabolic disorders, obesity and cancer are examples of diverse pathological conditions where these proteins play a role.

Here we present a few examples where targeting aquaporins may represent innovative therapies, unveiling their potential as drug targets for treatments and biomarkers for prognostic. Among the broad range of diseases where aquaporins are implicated, we are mostly interested in investigating their druggability for metabolic disorders (obesity, diabetes), cancer, and inflammation, aiming to provide a basis for the development of aquaporin-based therapeutics for these disorders.