A vital activity of the ID division is laboratory, translational, and clinical research. The division’s research portfolio includes awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), foundations, and industry sponsors. The division also conducts numerous UPMC clinical trials. Strong research themes in the division include HIV-AIDS, epidemiology and molecular epidemiology of bacterial pathogens, antimicrobial resistance of gram-negative bacteria, pathogenesis of fungal infections, and biosecurity planning.

Research activities are concentrated in three world-class Centers of Excellence in Research: 1) The Center for Antibody Therapeutics (CAT), which identifies, characterizes and engineers novel human monoclonal antibodies (mABs) as candidate therapeutics; 2) the Center for Innovative Antimicrobial Therapy (CIAT) investigates novel approaches to combat the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance.; and 3) the Center for AIDS Elimination (CAE), which provides clinical, educational, and scientific research for the purposes of prevention, treatment and cure of HIV/AIDS.