Molecular characterization of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC): molecular mechanisms with potential for diagnosis and treatment. Biological and biochemical effects of genetically-tailored therapies that consist on the combination of specific pharmacological drugs guided by individual mutational profiling in cell lines and tissue of patients.

Coordination of the project "Personalised medicine in Hepatitis-C Virus (HCV) infection: understanding and predicting hepatic and systemic responses in the era of the new antiviral drugs". This project is funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Spanish Ministry of Economy).

- Diagnostics of parasitic burden in sheep and anthelmintic drug resistance studies.- Trichinella surveillance in red foxes (post mortems and muscle digests).- Echinococcus multilocularis surveillance in red foxes, diagnostics by conventional PCR.- Field work in farms located in Northern England.- Optimization of PCR protocol for the amplification of worm DNA to detect resistance and susceptibility to anthelmintics.

As part of the DFID funded UK Ebola response to West Africa, I have been working in a laboratory located in an Ebola Treatment Centre delivering diagnostics for patients and community dead. We received a large amount of samples on a daily basis, and we processed them inside a flexible film isolator (FFI), as Zaire ebolavirus requires the maximum level of containment (CL4). We use AVL and heat inactivation, and EZ1 extraction machines. Finally the RNA extracts are tested by real time RT-PCR and the results fed back to the medics within 24 hours of reception.

Immunopathology. Study of CD4+ lymphocytes and their role in autoimmune pathologies, using animal models and flow cytometry.