Infectious diseases are today still leading causes of global mortality and morbidity. One death out of four is due to infections, a proportion just behind cardiovascular diseases and twice as high as mortality due to cancer. This proportion is even higher in children, where infectious diseases are the first cause of death. In addition, the prevalence of chronic inflammatory and auto-immune diseases are on the rise, especially in the industrialized world. Therefore, the Center for Infection and Immunity of Lille is devoted to studying some of the most prevalent infectious disease, such as tuberculosis, malaria, hepatitis C, influenza, schistosomiasis, toxoplasmosis, pertussis, pneumococcal pneumonia, but also continuous threads, such as plague and several parasitic and viral diseases. These infections cannot be studied independently of their host environment, especially the immune system. Therefore, the second major area of research concerns the immune reaction against infections, and related immune dysfunctions of non-infectious diseases, such as allergic asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which may be a leading cause of death by 2050. The objectives of the center are to gain deeper knowledge on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of these diseases and to apply this knowledge to the development of improved diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics.