Biochemist 

Immunologist specialising in the molecular biology of human histocompatibility antigens, or HLA antigens.
As a post-doc researcher at the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department of the University of Harvard (1978-1979), he participated in determining the structure of the first histocompatibility antigen known at a molecular level, HLA-B7, under the supervision of Prof. Jack Strominger.

As an independent researcher, first at the Fundación Jiménez Díaz in Madrid (1980-1986) and then at the Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, run by the Higher Council of Scientific Research and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (from 1987) his research focused primarily on the study of the molecular properties of HLA-B27 antigens and mechanisms by which this protein participates in the pathogeny of certain chronic rheumatic diseases called spondyloarthropathies, the prototype of which is the ankylosing spondylitis.

In this field he determined the chemical structure of HLA-B27 and of some functional variants of this antigen associated differentially with disease. His most recent studies have centred on an analysis of the peptide repertoires presented by HLA-B27, the relationships between these repertoires and a susceptibility to developing spondyloarthropathies and the structural relations between peptides derived from arthritogenic bacteria and from human proteins, as a possible mechanism for an autoimmune pathogeny of spondyloarthropathies.

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