CPEC's objectives relate specifically to research on social pathologies and focus on improving therapies, diagnosis and prevention of prevailing diseases which affect the needy. The advanced technical level of CPEC has helped make it one of the world's leading centers for the research and development of vaccines which target the prevention of cervical and prostate cancer. The center's excellence in research is reflected by strong partnerships with the Osvaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) and Cornell University and the University of California, Berkeley in the United States, as well as countless publications of papers in Brazilian and international scientific journals. At the present time, CPEC is concentrating its efforts on the research programs including: bacterial resistance to antibiotics, virus HTLV II infection, Helicobacter Pylori infections, prevention and control of visceral leishmaniasis, a vaccine to prevent HPV/cervical cancer, urinary tract infections from escherichia coli, epidemiology of masculine aging, and a vaccine to prevent prostate cancer.