Dr. Francisco Borrás Cuesta, a pioneer in the field of immunology and director of the laboratory of Experimental Immunology of the research center Applied Medicine (CIMA) of the University of Navarra, died Wednesday in Pamplona at the age of 74.

A native of Catalonia, Francisco Borrás moved to Chile when he was 12 years old. There he graduated in Chemistry from the Catholic University of Santiago. Later he did his doctorate and postdoctorate at the University of Oxford (England) on Chemistry of proteins, under the direction of Dr. Robin E. Offord, at the group of Dorothy Hodgkin, award Nobel of Chemistry in 1964.

After a brief stay in Chile, he returned to Europe to work at the laboratory European Molecular Biology in Grenoble (France) for six years, and at the high school National Agronomic research (INRA) in Paris.

In April 1988 he joined the University of Navarra, where he has carried out extensive research work in the field of immunology. As a result of his scientific activity, he started the clinical essay of the P144 peptide in patients with scleroderma, a disease that causes fibrosis in the skin (scarring), blood vessels and internal organs such as the lung.

He developed his activity professor as Full Professor of courses of doctorate. On the occasion of his retirement in 2009, he commented: "I have had the opportunity to train staff from research who are now my colleagues. Joining forces and focusing on different points of view creates a very enriching synergy".

During his professional life in Pamplona, Francisco always had the door of his office open for any enquiry, staff or professional. Those of us who have been his colleagues have looked for that door with the guarantee that we would find answers there. Francisco has been and will always be a teacher for all of us.