Dr. José Luis Franco works in the Genetics and Immunology Section of the Department of Biology and Molecular Genetics of the National Institute for Human Genome Research. His research work is focused on the study of Hyperimmunoglobulinemia E Syndrome, a genetic disease that affects the immune system, connective tissue, teeth, and the skeletal system. In addition, his laboratory in Colombia investigates aspects of intracellular signaling in T and B lymphocytes in immunodeficiencies and also immunoregulation in tropical diseases such as Leishmaniasis.

José Luis is a Surgeon graduated from the Pontifical Bolivarian University in Medellín (Colombia, South America). Subsequently, he did postgraduate studies in Immunology at the University of Antioquia (Medellin, Colombia) and later, a postdoctoral fellowship in the Experimental Immunology Laboratory of the Basic Sciences Division of the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Maryland. After his return to Colombia, he joined the Primary Immunodeficiencies Group in the Department of Microbiology and Parasitology of the University of Antioquia, where he currently works as an associate researcher. Dr. Franco is at the NHGRI, developing aspects of his doctoral thesis in Biomedical Sciences with the University of Antioquia, Colciencias and the NHGRI.