It is a sister Institute of ICMR, India. This Institute has identified research priorities on Kala-azar which are being worked out in a phased manner in the areas of chemotherapy, development of diagnostics, disease epidemiology, pathology, parasite characterization, leishmania parasite bank, host immune responses, vector biology and its control and social aspects. Besides kala-azar, Post Kala-azar Dermal Leishmaniasis (PKDL) is also studied from various aspects. This institute is also functioning as surveillance and testing centre for HIV-AIDS in Bihar under the supervision of National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) in collaboration with State AIDS cell.The important thrust areas of research are on clinical trials of new anti-leishmanials, diagnostic aspect of Kala-azar such as developing nucleic acid based probe, Western Blot technique, DAT and IHC staining technique for diagnosis of PKDL, parasitological aspect such as cryopreservation for establishment of leishmania bank, parasite growth kinetics, virulence and isoenzyme characterisation, Leishmania immunobiology. Epidemiological studies to assess transmission factors and epidemic predictions by help of mathematical modeling and remote sensing technique have been important areas of research. Vector biology and control studies have been given emphasis in last few years.