Dr. Alvarez is an Associate Professor of Immunology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). He studied Biology at the Universidad del País Vasco (UPV) and completed his PhD at the Centro de Biología Molecular “Severo Ochoa” (CBMSO) – Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM). In 2002, he moved to the UAB for a post-doc position. Dr. Alvarez has been working in antigen processing and presentation since obtaining his PhD. In Madrid, he studied the role of proteasomes and HLA-B27 in spondyloarthropaties under the supervision of Dr. López de Castro. As a post-doctoral researcher, he studied the HLA-I and HLA-II peptide repertoires in central tolerance and autoimmunity. His current research lines are focused on the following: 1) the role of AIRE in antigen processing and presentation during central tolerance; 2) the study of intermediate proteasomes in the generation of antigenic peptides; and 3) the analysis of HLA immunopeptidomes and post-translational modifications in autoimmunity and infection.