Jean-Louis Touraine has been a Professor in Nephrology, Immunology and Transplantation at the Claude Bernard University of Lyon since 1979. From 1986 to 2012 he was Head of the Department of Transplantation and Clinical Immunology, Hôpital Edouard Herriot. Research work has taken him to Lyon, Edinburgh, Minneapolis and New York. In the field of immunodeficiency diseases his scientific contributions include (a) the discovery of the Bare Lymphocyte Syndrome, (b) the first successful foetal liver stem cell transplants in humans, (c) the first in utero foetal stem cell transplants into human foetuses, (d) bone marrow and thymic epithelial cell transplants, and other studies & treatments. In the field of renal and pancreatic transplantation he is responsible for new immunosuppressive therapies and prevention of complications. In the field of HIV infection he completed studies of the mother-to-child transmission and new treatments and gene therapy against HIV in the humanized SCID mouse. In the field of the ethics of transplantation his work includes foetal development and HIV infection. Finally, in the field of immunology, he has worked on immunological tolerance, T-cell differentiation, role of HLA antigens and antigen recognition by T-cells.

Professor Touraine has authored over 1000 scientific papers and 35 scientific books. Since 2007, Professor Touraine is an elected member of the French Parliament (Assemblée Nationale) and a member of The Parliamentary Office For Scientific And Technological Assessment.