Glycogen is the main form of carbohydrate storage and plays a key role in glucose homeostasis. Its synthesis and degradation are governed by a set of different enzymes, whose activities are regulated by environmental conditions.

However, under some circumstances, glycogen gets accumulated in insoluble non-degradable forms, which are related to pathology. In this talk, I will cover some aspects of these awry forms of glycogen using, as an example, Lafora disease, a particular type of progressive myoclonus epilepsy, which is characterized by the accumulation of insoluble forms of glycogen in the brain and different peripheral tissues.

At present, our group is interested in why these insoluble forms are formed, why they are related to pathology, and more importantly, how we can alleviate the pathology.

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Dr. Pascual Sanz Bigorra is the Head of the Nutrient Signaling Unit, Instituto de Biomedicina de Valencia, CSIC. He is a member of the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER)-Instituto de Salud Carlos III.
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