Broadly speaking, my research interests include physics of the early Universe, tests of General Relativity and possible connections between gravity and particle physics.　At present I am very interested in the issue of the end state of the gravitational collapse of matter. In the framework of General Relativity and under apparently reasonable assumptions, we should expect the formation of a black hole. However, from a strictly theoretical point of view, black holes are a challenge, demanding new physics, while astrophysical observations cannot yet confirm unambiguously their existence.