The National Institute has rich clinical resources and is actively involved in research in the field of TB & Respiratory Diseases. In addition to indoor facilities the institute has a well developed outreach system of treating patients in the field conditions under supervision. The TB patients under the specified area of the Institute are being treated in the peripheral health centers (DOTS centers). At DOTS centers each patient is properly recorded till the full treatment. Sputum examinations are done at pre-defined intervals and recorded. Patients are given supervised treatment. The outcome of each patient is recorded. Home visits are done for patients who fail to turn up for treatment. This forms a very strong cohort group for any prospective research study.

The Institute assists the government of India in developing strategies for TB control and in implementation of the same. Based on operational research the faculty of the institute has contributed significantly to the development of national guidelines in India for management of tuberculosis, MDR-TB and pediatric tuberculosis under national programme.

The institute has Research Committee and Ethical Committee for evaluation of the research proposals. The Institute at present is having International / National collaboration. Several rapid diagnostic tests for the diagnosis of tuberculosis are already being field tested in collaboration with international agencies such as FIND (Foundation for Innovative Diagnostics). National Institute has already signed MOU with ICGEB (International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology).

The long-term goal of the institute will be to develop a center of excellence providing a platform for clinical immunological work in the field of tuberculosis and other respiratory diseases. The Research focus would be priority to work on the diagnosis, monitoring and evaluation of various newer therapeutic modalities like drugs and vaccines besides studying the immune pathogenesis and development of tuberculosis and other respiratory diseases. The institute will focus on the proteomics and genomics to achieve the above objectives. The facility will focus on discovering antigens, antibodies and immunological biomarkers for rapid and early diagnosis of tuberculosis, HIV-TB co-infection, MDR-TB and XDR-TB and on developing cost-effective devices for rapid detection of tuberculosis. This in a long run will help in the field evaluation and application of technology in tackling these diseases and will supplement the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme.