Group information

Our group’s main line of research is the study of the involvement of environmental factors in the aetiopathogenesis of degenerative diseases and their possible use as biomarkers in the prognosis of the disease and in the response to treatment, as well as the study of the mechanisms of interaction between these environmental factors and the possible genetic factors of susceptibility to suffer from these diseases. In 1997 we began a new line of pioneering research in Spain: the study of the possible involvement of herpesviruses in the aetiopathogenesis of multiple sclerosis; we now have internationally validated detection protocols, have established multiple national and international collaborations, and have developed various projects that have been continuously funded both publicly (FIS) and privately, which has allowed us to publish more than 40 international articles on this particular subject. Recent years have also included the study of other environmental factors, such as JC virus, vitamin D, the study of human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) and different metabolites of the microbiota, in this and other degenerative diseases. Finally, throughout this time, studies have also been carried out on the interaction between the different genetic susceptibility factors and the environmental factors studied, in order to study in depth, the possible mechanisms involved in the origin of these diseases.