Webinar by Albert Pol

Albert Pol
Department of biomedical sciences. Celm biology unit, medical school, University of Barcelona, Spain

The research by Dr. Albert Pol Sorolla focuses on the cell biology and physiology of lipid droplets (LDs). Long ago considered as inert and often detrimental cytosolic fat inclusions or even defined as ectopic fat accumulation, LDs are only recently recognized as bona fide intracellular organelles with crucial functions that go beyond the storage of lipids. The research group of Dr. Pol has significantly contributed to this recognition: From the pioneering description that integral plasma membrane proteins, such as caveolins, dynamically traffic through LDs (J Cell Biol 2001), the demonstration that LDs are essential for liver regeneration (Science 2006), to the recent discovery that LDs are innate immunity hubs (Science 2020). This paradigm-shifting study revealed that LDs attract and kill intracellular bacteria.