Since foundation of the Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Pediatric Immunology (Department) the main scientific topics of Department are infections (particularly, intestinal infections, congenital infections, TORCH group, HIV infection, opportunistic infections), primary immunodeficiencies (PID) and immune prophylaxis of infectious diseases.

The Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Pediatric Immunology was the first to actively develop diagnostics and treatment of primary immunodeficiencies in Ukraine. In this research field 3 doctoral theses have been defended, about 100 scientific works have been published, including 11 articles in the international professional journals cited in Scopus (Clinical Genetics, 2008; Molecular Immunology, 2009; Journal of Experimental Medicine, 2011; Molecular Immunology, 2011; Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 2012; Journal of Medical Genetics, 2013; Blood, 2016; Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 2016; Journal of Сlinical Іmmunology, 2016; Journal of Clinical Immunology, 2017, 2018). In 2016 the research work "Clinical and immunological characteristics of primary immunodeficiencies in children, development of criteria for early diagnosis of primary immunodeficiencies" was completed. The frequency of PID in Ukraine was studied and the PID Register was created; the early criteria for diagnosis were developed and implemented.  In collaboration with a team of international scientists a new nosological form of primary immunodeficiency was described ( Liu et al. Gain-of-function human STAT1 mutations impair IL-17 immunity and underlie chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis // Journal of Experimental Medicine, 2011).

The Department actively participates in the studies of the burden of vaccine-controlled infections and the implementation of the immunoprophylaxis programmes in close cooperation with the WHO and other international organizations. The researches in this field  resulted in introducing the Hib-vaccination into the National vaccination calendar in 2006. In 2014, the research of serotype repertoire and antibiotic resistance of pneumococcal infection in children proved the expediency of the vaccination against pneumococcal infection and allowed to create the recommendations concerning the empirical therapy for community-acquired pneumonia and meningitis in children.

Since 2006, the department represents Ukraine in the WHO Global Surveillance of Rotavirus Infection (Professor Liudmyla Chernyshova is a  National Coordinator). The results of the work are reported at the WHO workshops, the international conferences on infectious diseases (ESPID), international publications (Vaccine, 2017, 2018).

HIV infection is also an important part of the research reflected in the publications of recent years:

Today, the scientific work integrates the experience in the main fields - infection, immunodeficiencies and immune prophylaxis. These directions are among the top priorities in the world and are relevant in Ukraine in view of the active circulation of infections.

The research work is supported by financing from the budget of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine:  "Development of optimal schemes for the vaccination against bacterial infections in HIV-infected children receiving antiretroviral therapy" (2015-2017), "Improving the approaches to the immunization of infectious diseases in children with primary and secondary immunodeficiencies" (2018-2020).

In 2018, the manual "Immunoprophylaxis of infectious diseases" edited by L. I. Chernyshova, F. Lapii, A. Volokha was issued.

The following dissertations were completed by the staff of the Department:

Candidate's theses:
1. Kostyuk O. P. "Peculiarities of the Influence of Microbial Colonization of the Gastrointestinal Tract on Immunity in the Early Neonatal Period", 1993.
2. Gaidai NV "Clinical and immunological substantiation of differentiated methods of rehabilitation of children with frequent respiratory infections", 1999.
3. Samarin D.V. "Conditions of development of protracted diarrhea after suffering from acute intestinal infection and approaches to the treatment in children of the first half of life", 2002.
4. Lapii F.I. "Investigation of the influence of health conditions and factors of local protection on the formation of a specific immune response when vaccinated with oral poliovirus vaccine in children", 2006.
5. Bondarenko A.V. "Age-dependent Peculiarities of Meningitis in Children (epidemiology, etiology, clinic, differential diagnostics)", 2006
6. Yuhimenko O.O. "Features of Rotavirus Infection in Children in the First Five Years of Life and Improvement of Approaches to Its Treatment", 2010
7. Vynnyk N.P. "Features of Infection caused by H. influenzae type b, in children under 5 years of age and improvement of antibiotic therapy", 2013.
8. Stepanovsky Yu.S. "Clinical and immunological criteria for predicting the course of HIV infection in children", 2014
9. Yakimovich S.A. "Clinical Efficiency of Local Immunity Correction in Immunocompetent and Immunocompromised Children with Retinal Respiratory Infections", 2014
10. Hilfanova AM "Medical and social aspects of nasopharyngeal carriage of pneumococci in children under 5 years old", 2016

Doctoral Dissertations:
1. Volokha AP " Peculiarities of primary antibody deficiencies in children, developing of early diagnostic criteria and justification of differentiated approaches to treatment", 2009.
2. Samarin D.V. "Clinical features of HIV infection, functional lymphocytes state and criteria for the initiation of ART therapy in perinatal infected children" 2009
3. Bondarenko A.V. "Diagnosis and medical and social support of primary immunodeficiency in children" 2016 

The current dissertations on obtaining a scientific degree of the doctor of philosophy (candidate of medical sciences) are carried out at the department:

• Irina Raus "Improving approaches to vaccination of HIV-infected children receiving antiretroviral therapy"
• Anna Lisovskaya "Protection status against vaccine-controlled infections and ways of its improvement in patients with primary and secondary immunodeficiency"
• Stepan Beglaryan "Screening for primary immunodeficiency in children using information test systems
• Maria Teslenko "Clinical features of intestinal infections depending on the pathogen and the justification of their prevention methods
• Olga Peredriychuk "Improving imunoprophylaxis of pneumococcal infection in children with primary and secondary immunodeficiency”