The leishmaniasis is a WHO designated neglected tropical disease. More than 350 million people worldwide are at risk of contracting leishmaniasis. Current treatments for all forms of leishmaniasis are lengthy, and highly toxic. Besides safety concerns with current medication, drug resistant parasites are becoming more and more commonplace. Clearly new treatments and a vaccine for leishmaniasis is needed. Host directed therapy (HDT) is a viable alternative which targets the host pathways responsible for parasite survival and pathogenicity. HDT has gained significant momentum with the recent innovative combinations of different genomics, proteomics and computational biology approaches. Given the success of HDT in the field of cancer and autoimmunity, there is potential for its employment in treating infectious diseases. This talk will be an overview of translational research by our team that has led to discovery of novel host directed treatments and development of a vaccine using CRISPR technology for leishmaniasis.