Organization OverviewThe Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases studies the genetics of human predisposition to pediatric infectious diseases,particularly mycobacterial diseases,invasive pneumococcal diseases,and herpes simplex encephalitis. It aims to identify Mendelian 'holes' in the immune defense of otherwise healthy children who are susceptible to specific infectious diseases,work that has profound implications for and has resulted in a paradigm shift in human clinical medicine and fundamental immunology. In the past decade,the laboratory has uncovered that single genetic lesions in children confer severe and selective vulnerability to certain illnesses,whereas corresponding infections in adults result more from polygenetic inheritance. This work not only blurs th