Dr. Javier Villacieros Álvarez

I completed my training period in Neurology at the Hospital Universitario de La Princesa (Madrid). Subsequently, I worked as a Specialist Physician in Hospital Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid) from September 2019 to January 2022, with care activity focused mainly on neuroimmunology. At the moment I work as a predoctoral researcher at the Center d 'Sclerosi Múltiple de Catalunya (Cemcat), Vall d'Hebron Hospital (Barcelona), after obtaining a PFIS grant from the Carlos III Health Institute. The research project is focused on MOG antibodies associated disease (MOGAD), studying biomarkers in MOGAD with different laboratory techniques (cell-based assay, immunocytochemistry, flow cytometry, SIMOA, etc), as well as the analysis of different clinical and radiological characteristics, and evolution and prognosis of patients with a first demyelinating event suggestive of multiple sclerosis based on the presence or absence of MOG antibodies. I spent a stay at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London, learning about different laboratory techniques (ELISA, Cell based assays, immunoblot, immunohistochemistry, immunoprecipitation, etc), and actively collaborating in the experiments of different groups. To date I am part of 8 publications of scientific articles, being first or second author in 5 of them. In addition, I have made more than 10 presentations at conferences as first author.