Diego Vargas-Inchaustegui's interest towards tropical diseases began when I was working in a Tropical Medicine Institute during my undergraduate biology studies in Lima, Peru. Here at UTMB, my research focuses on studying the innate immune responses against infection with the intracellular parasite Leishmania braziliensis. I am trying to elucidate the role played by key components of the immune system during infection in a murine model. My research focuses on the interactions between dendritic cells with the parasite and the downstream events that are triggered by these interactions. I am interested in translating the findings on the murine model towards a human in vitro system in order to contrast and evaluate the different outcomes of disease.