Maria Yazdanbakhsh heads the department of Parasitology which engages in basic and clinical research and employs an interdisciplinary group of basic and clinical scientists who focus on understanding host-parasite interactions at the molecular, cellular and population level. The knowledge gained is being applied to contribute to 1) development of effective vaccines against parasitic diseases, 2) identification of parasite-derived immune modulatory molecules to control hyper-inflammatory diseases and 3) understanding how variation in the immune system of populations in LMIC determines disease outcome .