The aim is to understand why certain individuals when exposed to a particular infectious agent, develop a disease while others show no symptoms. Many arguments suggest that responses to infectious agents in humans depend to a large extent on the genetic inheritance of the infected individual, however the precise identification of the molecular basis of this genetic control remains to be established.

The originality of the laboratory is based on the fact that two perfectly complementary teams, something quite unique at the international level, work in tandem (epidemiological genetics and molecular genetics), providing for an optimised and integrated approach to research into the human genetics of infectious diseases.