History and Definition

• The term "translational research" first appeared in the early 1990s. This term emerged as a result of considerable increases "in basic or clinical science discoveries" and not many advances in "health care and health outcomes."
• Translational research came to be because of the long time it takes to bring medical discoveries into practice and the need to transform research into practice more quickly. According to studies, it takes an average of 17 years for 14% of new discoveries to enter clinical practice.
• The term has been defined differently by scholars and professionals. Despite these variations, in every definition three attributes are highlighted: it adopts a scientific approach, it includes innovative investigation, and it is directed toward improved performance. One example is the definition by nature.com: "Translational research involves the application of knowledge gained through basic research to studies that could support the development of new products."

Objectives

• Translational research is aimed toward bonding "practical laboratory practices and performance related issues" in the health profession. It has been recently seen as a scientific discipline that bounds basic and clinical science.
• It adopts a scientific investigation into a given health problem which eventually helps to increase health performance.

Relevance

• Translational research reduces health disparity (when a proportion of people are unable to get equal medical treatment) as it makes use of realistic approaches for health sector problems and takes into consideration factors such as "income level, educational level, marital status, political affiliation, social status, and economic power."
• It promotes partnership in research as it uses partnership, often public-private, as a tool for ensuring that relevant stakeholders are involved in the research process, which ensures that the process of investigation is explored by a wide range of different groups of participants and a lasting solution is achieved.
• Also, it helps research to be patient-oriented as translational research considers the patients’ needs, aspirations and problems in all the research process.

How It Differs from Clinical Research

• Clinical research involves studying subjects through surveys, health services research, or clinical trials by testing regulated hypotheses in controlled environments. Through it, scientists and physicians are able to find new methods of diagnosis, prevention, and treatment.
• In the other hand, translational research serves as a bridge between science and practice and, ultimately, patients' needs. It translates research results into strategies for improving healthcare and community health,
• Additionally, clinical research is usually done at "academic medical centers and their affiliated research sites," while translational research is mostly done at dedicated university science departments and research centers because it requires various sets of skills, tools, and resources that sometimes are not found at a typical laboratory or clinic.

How It Works

• In translational research, "academia and industry work together" to improve health outcomes. Its success does not depend only on the science and its application, but also on the informatics needed to connect them.
•  Translational research informatics is the bridge between biomedical informatics and translational research and enables researchers to store and analyze their data to make possible the application in the clinic.
• It involves four phases: translation to humans (find a use for a scientific discovery in human health), translation to clinical settings (understand the value of the potential health use), translation to practice (move evidence-based guidelines into practice), and translation to populations (evaluate the real-world outcomes).

Insights on Translational Research

• Translational research is relatively new and does not have widely accepted credentialing pathways in the United States.
• Used for applied research: 3.9 percent of publications produced by basic research awards between 2008-2014 were based in translational research, according to a 2018 paper. Comparatively, 7.4 percent of publications for applied research were based in translational research.
• In 2016, the National Institute of Health allocated $500 million to the Clinical and Translational Science Awards program.
• In FY2018, the National Institute of Health allocated $1 billion of its overall $36 billion budget to translational research.
• Of the $1 billion in funding for translational research that National Institute of Health committed in FY2018, most of it went toward researching commonalities underlying medicinal practice as a whole rather than specific diseases.
• Global adoption: The European Union's Innovative Medicines Initiative has a $6 billion budget, all of which is dedicated toward translational research.
• Global adoption: Germany began a focused translational research effort in 2010 and has since dedicated $14.74 billion in funds to the program.
• Global adoption: Australia has declared translational research to be its second-highest priority for the National Health and Medical Research Council, next to investment in research. The council dedicated $586.2 million to translational research in 2016-2017.
• Global adoption: In the UK, 20 translational research facilities have been established, generating nearly 100 patents and attracting more than $1.5 billion from private charities.
• Preferred for alcohol research: The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism specifically identified translational research as being a preferred method for the National Institute of Health in researching alcohol misuse.
• Increasing number of references: The number of publications referring to translational research has increased from 15,062 in 2014 to 20,718 in 2016.
• Increasing citations for related journal: The impact factor of the journal Translational Research has increased from approximately 4.0 in 2014 to 4.516 in 2018, according to Clarivate Analytics. The impact factor measures the number of citations received by articles published in the journal.
• Research center profile: Of the top 10 largest projects funded at Indiana University's School of Medicine in 2017 by the National Institute of Health, three were based in translational research. The amount funded for translational research represented 26.76 percent of total funding.

Research Strategy

The Complexity of the Regulatory Processes

• Research evidence is not always the driver of health guidelines. Health guideline methodologists observed that financial constraints, trade-offs between desirable and undesirable outcomes, preferences, and stability of effect are all determinant factors to whether research evidence is transformed into health policy.

• Stakeholder values and preferences add even more complexity to the landscape. Partisan politics, donations to policy-makers from industries threatened by new regulations, and agendas promoted by interest groups may impact health guidelines and policies.
• For instance, in 2015, 45 new drugs were approved in the US, while 1.3 million medical papers were published in trade journals during the same period. The National Institute of Health (NIH) estimates that 80% of research projects never reach the clinical trial phase and that only one in every 1000 drugs gains FDA approval.
• A 2015 study examined numerous papers reporting scientists’ views of the aspects they perceive as hindering the conduct of translational research. The complexity of regulations, the study discovered, is a common issue for researchers. For instance, surveys conducted with senior researchers in the U.S. unveiled that regulatory requirements are particularly challenging for translational research, thus “limiting the success of biomedical innovation being translated into benefits for patients."
• Regulatory processes vary according to the country. There are additional provincial or state requirements in Canada and the USA as well as additional national requirements in countries of the European Union.
• Even when researchers manage to reach the proper agency, uncertainty still exists regarding the regulations that are in place since documentation often lacks clarity. Some say that the lack of transparency is intentional, as the regulatory policy is performance-based by nature.
• Interacting with medical authorities and regulatory agencies is challenging by itself due to the organizational complexity of these entities. The information available online is often not user-friendly, time-consuming, and websites are not always updated regularly.
• For those in the field of stem cell research the challenge is even more prevalent, as stem cell research is yet to be properly defined. "Scientific and technological developments and their accompanying 'imagined futures' therefore created uncertainty on the part of both scientists and regulators as both parties sought to develop and refine interpretations of rules and regulations."
• Ethical and social implications add an extra layer of complexity, as exemplified by scientists working on stem cells as potential therapy for leukemia and diabetes, who reported making a deliberate effort to follow the strict regulatory processes to ensure acceptance and legitimacy of their research. They argue that public attention to the ethical and social implications of stem cell research breakthroughs would limit the "move from bench to bedside."
• The public scrutiny often carries weight when it comes to scientific breakthroughs. In the stem cell field, legislators place tighter restrictions on specific stem cell therapies in favor of less controversial treatments, regardless of the outcomes for patients. The biopharmaceutical industry is focusing on drugs that are more likely to succeed in the regulatory approvals now than it was before.

What is being done to overcome the barrier

• Many international harmonization initiatives are trying to reduce the burden of regulation on researchers, such as the International Pharmaceutical Regulator's Forum Cell Therapy Group, International Council on Harmonization (ICH), International Pharmaceutical Regulator's Forum Gene Therapy Group, Pharmaceutical Inspection Cooperation Scheme (PIC/s), and Regional Cooperation Council (RCC).
• The academic community is also pushing for national databases containing the clinical data that is used to support the approval of drug or medical device applications. Health Canada, for example, is considering policy changes to make this information publicly available.
• Some institutions are increasing their efforts to navigate the regulatory difficulties by implementing project management and project leadership to address scientific and regulatory issues. The NIH and other organizations are supporting these multidisciplinary, translational teams.
• Furthermore, academic institutions, such as Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute, are hiring regulatory impact leaders to support policy-relevant research and foster its translation between researchers and regulators.

Reproducibility

• The quality of research is related to the quality of the input data and the methods for processing and interpretation. Unfortunately, most research findings cannot be replicated. Even those that are successfully replicated often have no immediate impact or utility.
• Research suggests that several published researches in the biomedical field are "misleading, not as robust as they claim, or cannot be reproduced." For that reason, the reproducibility of findings and their translatability to human studies is widely acknowledged as an issue by the industry and academic researchers.
• A survey conducted by the journal Nature reported that 90% of respondents believe there is a slight or significant reproducibility crisis in science. Between 40% to 70% agreed that fraud, selective reporting, and pressure to publish contribute to irreproducible research.
• Simple divergences such as type of coating tubes, how cells are stirred in culture, what temperature cells are grown, or subtle pH differences can result in complete failure to replicate the results.
• Methodological flaws and poor experimental designs in preclinical "in nitro" and "in vivo" animal studies can lead to the inefficiency of the translational research, as they may lead to systematic bias, which in turn leads to irreproducible and unreliable data and inaccurate conclusions.

What is being done to overcome the barrier

• Scientists are more mindful of the importance of open and transparent science now than they were before. A recent study discovered promising improvements in transparency and openness in biomedical research.
• Dr. John Ioannidis, professor of medicine, health research and policy, biomedical data science and statistics at Stanford University, explains that there is still much room for improvement in terms of transparency and reproducibility for the average paper. However, there were many advancements in the last few years.
• Initiatives such as the Brazilian Reproducibility Initiative are emerging to address this issue by conducting systematic and multicenter efforts to repeat experiments.
• The NIH revised application instructions and strengthened review criteria to improve reproducibility through increased scientific rigor and transparency in grant applications and publications in 2016.

PATIENT RECRUITMENT AND SAMPLE COLLECTION CHALLENGES

• The recruitment of human research subjects for translational research is a key challenge to implementing clinical studies. About 34% of clinical scientists in a study identified the recruitment of research participants as a significant barrier to translational research.
• Most clinical studies rely on animal studies before conducting human trials. Researchers prefer animal studies because obtaining tissue samples from animals is far easier than regularly acquiring tissue samples from humans. Additionally, sample collection methods used in animal trials may not be applicable in human trials.
• Challenges surrounding human trials in translational research, including patient recruitment and sample collection, increases the research risk profile. It results in human trials being longer and more expensive than animal studies. Overall, it culminates in a reduced success rate of translational research.

What is being done to overcome the barrier

• About 54% of clinical scientists in a study identified that innovation has a significant effect in reducing barriers to patient recruitment and the collection of patient samples in translational research. The Australian Goverment Research Data Infrastructure initiative under the Medical Research Future Fund Research Translation provides access to data registries, biobanks, and data linkage platforms for the support of translational research.
• State-funded health systems can facilitate translational research. The Australian Goverment National Critical Research Infrastructure initiative under the Medical Research Future Fund Research Translation develops infrastructure for rural and remote communities to attend clinical trials without having to travel to major cities.

INSUFFICIENT RESEARCH SKILLS AND EQUIPMENT

• Clinical scientists identify that deficiencies in research skills and access to equipment impends their capacity to undertake translational research. Additionally, translational research requires access to information technology systems for monitoring the research process.
• Demanding clinical roles reduce the time available for researchers to undertake training for translation research. Such training often turns out to be too time-intensive and reduces the available time to undertake translational research.
•  Under-investment by universities, research institutions, and the government for research equipment and training of researchers has significantly curtailed the success of translational research. It has also reduced the growth of translational research culture across universities and research institutions.

What is being done to overcome the barrier

• Translational researchers are actively seeking grants that offer the provision of research equipment within translational research funding. Stellenbosch University allocates translational research three grants that have research equipment funding, including the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Strategic Equipment Fund and National Research Foundation Research Infrastructure Support Programme. Additionally, translational researchers are promoting the use of research equipment with functional uses across both translational research and regular lab work.
• Duke University actively promotes the importance and benefits of translational research in advancing health care through the establishment of clinical and translational science enterprise to steer leadership and management of translational research. The organizational framework guides the support for allocating translational researchers training opportunities and equipment to cover translational research efforts.
•  Duke University has implemented a project leader model for translational research to improve the project management outcomes of translational research projects. Particularly, the project leader model creates opportunities for clinical scientists to be trained in translational research.

Research Strategy

The National Institutes of Health (NIH)

• In 2011, NIH established The Learning Collaborative. This organization was a collaboration among three programs: (1) the NIH Chemical Genomics Center (NCGC) and its Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases (TRND) program, (2) The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), and (3) the University of Kansas Cancer Center (KUCC), whose purpose was "to discover and develop new drug therapies for rare blood cancers." No current information on The Learning Collaborative was found.
• NIH established the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) in 2011 to catalyze "technological and paradigmatic advances" in academia. The National NCATS was "the newest of 27 Institutes and Centers (ICs)" at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
• NCATS was expected to develop partnerships with nonprofits, biotechnological and pharmaceutical industries, government, and universities to advance translational science.
• NCATS awarded about 250 grants per year between 2012 and 2017 in Clinical and Translational Science. The year 2017 is the most recent year for which grant information is available at the NCATs website, but more is available here.
• NCATS's budget for fiscal 2019 was nearly $560 million. 
• More information on NCATs is available here.

Examples of Graduate School Degree Offerings in Translational Research

•  Harvard University Medical School developed a "Master of Medical Sciences in Clinical Investigation degree" to provide "world-class training in the methods and conduct of clinical discovery for future leaders in patient-oriented and translational research. This two-year program, which requires students to reside in Boston for its duration, combines innovative forms of pedagogy from leading Harvard faculty with an individual mentored research experience."
• The University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine offers a Master of Science in Translational Research.
• New York University Grossman Medical School's Clinical and Translational Science Institute "offers a variety of master’s-level science programs for students ... who are interested in pursuing translational and clinical research."

Universities and University Hospitals in Translational Research

• Mayo Clinic and about 60 other academic institutions have obtained NCATS, NIH, and Center for Translational Science (CTSA) Award funding.
• The University of Kansas Medical Center developed a drug discovery and development program with its NCATS and CTSA Award grant. The program is called "Frontiers: University of Kansas Clinical and Translational Science Institute. One of its components, the Institute for Advancing Medical Innovation (IAMI), works with academic investigators to conduct product development–focused translational research."

Publication of Translational Research Results

• About "700+ journals, 1000+ Conferences, 300+ workshops are presently dedicated exclusively to Translational Research and about 90,000+ articles are being published on the current trends in Translational Research" according to a 2019 listing online.

The National Institute of Health (NIH)

• For the purpose of research, the NIH was considered as one of the main organization in the United States that takes part in applied biomedical research.
• This is because one of NIH's main objective is to "ensure the future of U.S. competitiveness and innovation in biomedical research."
• One of the goals of the NIH is to "foster fundamental creative discoveries, innovative research strategies, and their applications as a basis for ultimately protecting and improving health"
• Consequently, the efforts to advocate for an increase in funding for government agencies that are involved in biomedical research such as the NIH were considered in research.
• Over the last three years, Congress has been increasing the NIH budget as a result of federal legislation and advocacy. In the 2016/2017 financial year, NIH's funding was increased by $2 billion while in the 2018 financial year, the funding was increased by $3 billion.

Federal Legislation

• A major strategy for advocating for an increase in federal funding for applied biomedical R&D is the use of legislation.  
• The 21st Century Cures Act, which was passed in December 2016 was used to advocate for an increase in federal funding for biomedical research.
• Consequently, the NIH received a 6.2% increase in funding to $34 billion as a result of additional funds that came to the NIH because of the act.
• Specifically, $352 million was provided under the 21st Century Cures Act as a measure to boost biomedical innovation through research and development.
• After incorporating the funds that were provided for the 21st Century Cures Act, the NIH's base budget increased by $1.6 billion.
• The law also "established an NIH Innovation Account that authorized $4.796 billion to fund several large projects over the next 10 years."
• The funded projects, which included the Precision Medicine Initiative, the Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, the Cancer Moonshot Initiative, and clinical research in regenerative medicine are all involved in research within the applied biomedical space.

Advocacy Organizations

• Another major effort in advocating for an increase in federal funding for applied biomedical R&D is by advocacy organizations.
• In 2019, the leadership of Stony Brook University's Graduate Student Organization (GSO) met with congressional staff to advocate for increased funding for scientific research and the creation of policies to support green technologies.
• GSO's President, Xiaoqing Zhang noted that "it is crucial that students and researchers urge Congress to increase federal funding for major science agencies including the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, Department of Defense, and National Institutes of Health." This is because robust, long-term investments in scientific research ensures researchers across the United States can work to grow the economy, discover new life saving treatments, and secure the country.
• Another organization that advocates for an increase in funding for applied biomedical research is the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Bodies (FASEB).
•  FASEB's mission statement is to "advance health and well-being by promoting research and education in biological and biomedical sciences through collaborative advocacy and service to our societies and their members."
• FASEB recently put out a new advocacy resource titled the Value of Federally Funded Biological Research. The slide deck shows how biomedical research improves the health, quality of life and the economy of the United States.
• The slide deck encourages Americans to be advocates for biomedical research by contacting their members of Congress and asking them to support increases to federal research budgets, writing a letter to local newspapers, tweeting about science funding, and volunteering at a local science museum.

Reforming Existing Drug Development

• There is an ideology of using public-private partnerships in translational research to reform existing drug development models.
• The idea is to use these partnerships to implement non-linear, adaptive processes and strengthen collaborative approaches regarding life-span management of therapies and diagnostics.
• It is thought that partnerships could result in increased quantity as well as the quality of likely new drugs inflowing clinical trials. Consequently, there will be a reduced attrition rate in the course of clinical trials and controlling monetary loss.
• The new thinking is that synergistic partnerships between public and private entities in translational research should be built in the precompetitive space of discovery as well as early clinical research.
• Essentially, the thinking is that potential public-private partnerships are ideal in reforming old-style research and health innovation models for the realization of more efficient innovation strategies.
• There is a widely accepted idea that public-private partnerships are a crucial instrument to expedite translational research in medicine. 

Bridging the Translational Gap

• There is a thought that best engagement through public-private partnerships where there is respect for each entity’s goals and constraints can help avoid tension in translational medicine.
• The idea is to eliminate tension as a means of bridging the translational gap by ensuring efficient use of resources in managing biological knowledge to address crucial medical needs.
• There is a view that challenges exist between academia and the medical industry, particularly on issues about variations in their operational set-up, management, ownership and benefits. New thinking is that public-private partnerships can help solve these challenges.
• Long-term funding opportunities in translational research can be realized through public-private partnerships. This can help strengthen innovation and scientific objectivity. 
• A coalition between public and private players in translational research places an impartial research-enabler at the interface between public and private stakeholders.

Access to Resources

• There is a new idea of gaining increased access to resources in translational research through public-private partnerships.
• It is thought that public-private partnerships increase the breadth of research facilities.
• Translational research is crucial in health innovation, and it benefits from having access to private research infrastructures.
• Through potential partnerships in translational research, there is close working among partners to explore new ways of supporting transition.
• Also, the collaboration is thought to allow sharing best practice.
• The structured frameworks of public-private partnerships can provide a suitable situation for more logical and sustainable associations amid the medical sector and academia.
• It is thought that public-private collaboration in translational research can enhance discovery research and synergize the use of emerging biomedical technologies to deliver innovative therapies.
• These partnerships are considered to enable the use of complementary strengths to overwhelm scientific, organizational, regulatory and economic barriers.
• The idea is that the introduction of public-private partnerships in the value-driven drug development can help pool the individual strengths, objectives and expectations. 
• The collaboration is thought to bring together resources from otherwise competing entities towards one common objective.

Expansion of Pre-Competitive Field

• There is a new idea that public-private collaboration can help expand a pre-competitive field. 
•  Externalization of research causes a decline in the productivity of efforts to handle medical needs.
• To sustain the required productivity, there is a need for public-private partnerships in translational research.
• The heterogeneity of stakeholders could help to expand the precompetitive space in the product development value chain. Consequently, trust between stakeholders and investment can be increased significantly.

Research Strategy

CONFERENCES

1. UK Neuromuscular Translational Research Conference 2020

• The 13th UK Neuromuscular Translational Research Conference is scheduled to be hosted on 22 and 23rd April 2020 in London, United Kingdom.
• According to the website, the conference is "designed to engage neuromuscular clinicians and scientists, and showcases the best and latest developments in neuromuscular science, and highlights their translation into patient benefit."
• The full program for the conference can be found here.

2. Translational Science 2020

• Translational Science 2020 is an international conference hosted in Washington, DC, on April 14-17, 2020. 
•  The conference is hosted by the Association for Clinical and Translational Science, and is focused on education over 1,100 trainees, researchers and federal officers on the latest developments in translational science.

3. International Sarcopenia Translational Research Conference

• The International Sarcopenia Translational Research Conference is scheduled to be hosted in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, United Kingdom, on 11 – 12 June 2020. 
• The conference will be focused on sarcopenia as a growing area of clinical and research activity, with translational research being the key to the research activity: "Great strides are being made in our scientific understanding of sarcopenia and muscle health, and the challenge now is to translate these advances into better care and better treatments for older people."

4. 5th Translational Research Conference: Multiple Myeloma

• The 5th Translational Research Conference: Multiple Myeloma will be hosted between October 09 and October 11, 2020, in Mandelieu-La Napoule, France.
•  The conference will be focusing on update on the pathophysiology of myeloma and how the disease is evolving from MGUS and SMM, update on the diagnostic criteria and the use of new assessments in the diagnostic process, treatment of young myeloma patients, treatment of elderly and frail myeloma patients, optimal sequencing at the relapse, the role of new immunotherapic approaches and how will they fit in the landscape, the role of novel drugs under development, and latest updates in other plasma cell disorders beyond myeloma.

MEDIA OUTLETS

1. American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

• The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) operates a news alert website called Eureka that delivers news on different scientific topics, including translational research.
• The most recent topic the outlet reported on was that NIH provided $23 million for statewide translational research institute.

2. Brown University News

•  Brown University operates an online news website regarding scientific research, and has a dedicated page of translational research.
• The page gives information into the newest publications, courses, seminars, and ideas put forward in the field, including the most recently published article titled "Big Data, Small State: RI Database Offers the Potential for Efficient, Improved Healthcare".

The National Center for Advancing Translational Science

• The National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS) is one of the 27 divisions of the government agency, the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

• NCATS doesn't focus on a specific disease or health problem, but rather the entire process of translational research; the goal is to catalyze innovative approaches to various steps in the process, such as target validation (provide confidence that the correct molecular target has been identified as the cause of disease), that helps treatments get to patients faster.

• NCATS identifies bottlenecks in the translational science process with the goal of either removing, reducing or bypassing them altogether.
• The center offers funding opportunities, including a small business program that works with start-ups trying to develop technologies or methods for overcoming bottlenecks in translational research.
• Also, crucial to NCATS work is to provide funding to translational researchers working on diseases where significant gaps exist between understanding the molecular pathways of illness and finding treatments for those illnesses.
• In addition, the NCATS provides expertise, education, and training (including software tools) to help translational research teams.

The Office of Translational Sciences

• The Office of Translational Sciences (OTS) is housed in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

• The OTS primarily supports translational medical research for the consumer watchdog, the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). In particular, OTS focuses on innovations in the area of regulation of drug development (e.g., testing efficacy, quality, and performance) to speeding up drug development.

• The office created the Critical Path Initiative, which focuses on finding more modern scientific and research tools, as well as productively using information technology and data, to help one part of the translational research process move faster, namely, the regulatory aspect.
• OTS has also spearheaded the Critical Path Innovation Meetings (CPIM) that regularly convenes meetings of scientists, industry, patient-advocacy and government agencies to collaborate around improving the efficiency and success rates of drug development. Among issues discussed are biomarkers for disease, computer-based predictive models, and new clinical evaluation techniques.

The Translational Research Institute for Space Health

• The Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) is a branch of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

•  TRISH focuses on discovering, and funding discoveries of, innovative and disruptive treatments, technologies, and preventive therapies to address health risks, human performance issues, or health problems resulting from space travel. In other words, TRISH specializes in translational research for space medicine.

• The institute provides a variety of funding opportunities, including postdoctoral funding and specific space medicine research projects (that are under $100,000).

Division of Translational Research

• The Division of Translational Research (DTR) is a branch of the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH).

• The DTR specializes in translating neuroscientific and molecular knowledge into understanding the etiology, neurochemical basis, and trajectory of mental disorders.

• The division is actively engaged in a variety of translational research projects, including identifying the neural networks involved in psychopathology, looking for ways to ameliorate negative side-effects of current psychiatric medications and determine the specific mechanisms affected by pharmacological treatments of mental disorders.
• The DTR/NIMH provides both a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program for those start-ups or small companies working on child psychopathology.
• Similar SBIR and STTR programs are offered to support translational research into adult psychopathology.

Initiative for Translational Discoveries

• The Initiative for Translational Discoveries is a project of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

• The Initiative for Translational Discoveries focuses on using machine learning to better identify promising basic, scientific studies that should be explored for human applications in the treatment of disease.

• The focus of this initiative is on the early stages of the translational research process, namely, more efficiently mining databases of studies with potential application to treating disease; much translational research is hindered by the consuming process of identifying promising studies, hence using machine learning technologies, the goal is to accelerate this step.
• In addition, the Initiative for Translational Discoveries utilizes other HHS initiatives to spark innovation in this- particular translational research project-and other priorities for public health. For example, HHS created the Ignite Accelerator Project, which draws on entrepreneurial practices and coaching.
• One translational research project benefiting from the Ignite Accelerator Project is the "Web-based Knowledge Integration System of the U.S. Clinical and Translational Science Enterprise to Support Public Health Response Coordination."

1. Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute

• Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute (OCTRI) is a nonprofit organization in Oregon (US) funded by the National Institutes of Health.
• The mission of OCTRI is to produce impactful translational research.
• At OCTRI, researchers are given support to overcome barriers on clinical and translational research.
• Since 2006, OCTRI develop strategic goals to improve impact. Some of these goals are to empower translational research professionals, promote scientific collaborations and create meaningful partnerships.

2. The Translational Research Institute

• The Translational Research Institute (TRI) is a nonprofit medical institute in Brisbane, Australia.
• TRI promotes medical research and aims to contribute positively to the society.
• Their work involves patients, clinicians, and researchers collaborating to address health issues promptly.
• The needs of patients are very important at TRI. Scientists work together to produce better solutions for patients and transfer knowledge. Medical collaborations promote better communication and reduces the need for long written reports which can be difficult to read. Other benefits include measurable outcomes and better monitoring.
• TRI has several translational research projects in progress which include HPV vaccine, breast cancer spectroscopy and theranostic prostate cancer research.

3. Eureka Institute for Translational Medicine

• Eureka Institute for Translational Medicine (Eureka) is a nonprofit medical organization based in Singapore.
• The goals of Eureka include promoting translational medicine and strengthening translational research.
• One of the chief goals of Eureka is to develop a research community of medicine professionals who can produce valuable medical discoveries.
• Eureka aims to achieve this goal by providing educational lessons which includes certificate courses and workshops.
• The certificate course has been a success because 240 researchers from various countries have finished the programme.
• Eureka plans to form a network of alumni who will further educate others.

Research Strategy

The Duke Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI)

• The CTSI is part of Duke University School of Medicine which is ranked eighth both in research and in primary care among all medical schools in the United States, according to new U.S. News & World Report rankings.
• Not only is Duke University School of Medicine home to the Duke Clinical Research Institute, the world's largest academic clinical research organization, it houses one of the first and most prominent Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) sites.
• The Duke Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) is an academic hub for accelerating the translation and implementation of scientific discoveries into health benefits for patients and communities.
• According to their website, The Duke Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) makes the research process faster and easier by connecting Duke investigators to funding, project management, datasets, and other critical resources to move their ideas from the lab to the real world.
• Their experts provide guidance and specialized knowledge at all stages of the research process, linking potential collaborators, facilitating studies and clinical trials, and navigating the administrative and regulatory landscape.
• They also provide researchers with a variety of workforce development and early career programs.
•  Duke Clinical & Translational Science Institute and BioLabs North Carolina have awarded the first ever Duke Golden Ticket to Dr. Eric Benner to advance a novel therapy for infant brain injuries. Previously, Duke CTSI Accelerator supported this research with its Translational Accelerator Funding Award and by providing project management through its team of Project Leaders.
• With support from the NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award and Duke Health, CTSI accelerates real-world translational research at Duke with funding, innovative resources, and nationwide collaborations.
• "Dr. Donald Lo of Duke and Dr. Al Baldwin of the University of North Carolina used support from the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) to collaborate on a new approach for growing and characterizing human brain tumors in a lab, producing insights that could help fight recurrence of tumors in patients."

The Clinical and Translational Science Center at UC Davis Health

• The University of California, Davis's is ranked, according to the 2020 edition of Best Colleges in National Universities, 39th in the United States. Further, The University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine is, for the fifth year in a row, ranked number one in the United States according to the annual 2019 QS World University subject rankings.
• The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine leads scientific studies, provides clinical services and trains the next generation of veterinary doctors to cross boundaries for timely solutions. View their approach to translational research medicine here.
• The Clinical and Translational Science Center at UC Davis Health offers a full-fledged toolbox of resources that faculty and staff across the spectrum of scientific research can use to improve health and health care delivery.
• "Physicians and veterinarians have already teamed up at UC Davis to fight cancer, treat facial disorders and alleviate pain. These promising starts improve quality of life for patients now and lay a foundation for more collaboration and innovation to come."
•  According to their website, the CTSC at UC Davis Health "serves as a catalyst to support biomedical research projects by providing services and resources to investigators, staff, scholars and trainees, and community partners."
• "As an honest and resourceful broker, the CTSC partners with UC Davis schools and colleges engaged in life science and translational research to support collaborative projects with the potential to improve health care."
• All under one roof, the CTSC administers resources committed to promoting biomedical research through "innovation, collaboration, and expertise." Aided by its programs and resources, the UC Davis CTSC provides the necessary infrastructure for establishing research teams of the future to improve human health.
•  According to their website, the CTSC's research activities span a broad spectrum beginning with basic laboratory research into the mechanisms of disease and extending into correlative research that examines laboratory observations alongside clinical observations, clinical trials of new therapies, and research looking at the health of populations.

The Harvard Catalyst at Harvard University

•  The Harvard Catalyst is part of Harvard University, which is ranked, according to the 2020 edition of Best Colleges in National Universities, 2nd. 
•  According to their website, The Harvard Catalyst works with "Harvard University’s schools and affiliate academic healthcare centers to build and grow an environment focused on team science, where discoveries are rapidly and efficiently translated to improve human health."
• They "catalyze research across all clinical and translational domains by providing investigators with opportunities such as pilot funding, free resources such as biostatistics consultations, training and mentoring programs, and numerous courses."
• "Founded in 2008 by principal investigator Lee Nadler, MD, the center is a shared enterprise of Harvard University and is funded by the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) through its Clinical and Translational Science Awards Program."
• Harvard Catalyst also receives support from Harvard University, Harvard Medical School, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston Children’s Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Massachusetts General Hospital.
• Supporting a diverse clinical and translational research workforce is a top priority for Harvard Catalyst through its governance, programming, training, and resource allocation.
•  Harvard Catalyst is committed to partnering with departments and divisions to provide education, core resources, project management, mentorship committees, grant training, and support for protected time.
•  The Translational Innovator leverages partnerships and collaborations within and outside of Harvard to evaluate, and ultimately improve, the conduct of research.
•  Harvard Catalyst has, for the past ten years, offered a three-week summer program to help ease the transition for biomedical scientists as they return to the laboratory as translational research fellows. Every summer, Models of Disease Boot Camp "features updates on advances in biomedical science, lectures by prominent scientists about their discoveries, and panel discussions on topics ranging from academic-industry interactions to strategies for translational research."
•  Harvard Catalyst awarded pilot funding for five projects that investigate the role of the microbiome in human disease.

Major Funders of Translational Research

• The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) is the world's largest public-private partnership focusing on translational research. For 2019, the total budget of the IMI was ‎€585 million. This includes both commitment and payment appropriations. These appropriations are both from public and private organizations.

• Launched in 2006, the CTSA (Clinical and Translational Science Awards) is one of the largest funders of translational research in the United States. This program is an effort of the Division of Clinical Innovation at the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). Funding awarded by the CTSA has been steadily increasing since 2014. For the 2014 fiscal year, funding provided was at around $477 million. For the 2019 fiscal year, total funding had increased to roughly $559 million. A study of translational research programs found that targeted programs such as the CTSA are effective at converting research into healthcare impact.

• The Medical Research Council (MRC) is part of the UK Research Innovation (UKRI) agency that focuses on funding scientific research and innovation. As of 2017-2018, the MRC had a budget of £814.1 million. This had a £58.6 million increase from the previous year. From this budget, £380.2 million went to research grants and £150 million was allocated to MRC's internal research programs.

• Funded by Germany's federal government, the Health Research Framework Programme is under the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. As of 2018, the Health Research Framework Programme has allocated €1.75 billion in translational research funding.

Translational Research Journals

•  Science Translational Medicine is the weekly translation research journal published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Articles from this publication have been cited 168 times.
•  Translational Medicine publishes articles about common critical illnesses (such as cancer and kidney diseases) and biomedical research. Articles published in this journal have been cited over 140 times. Translational Medicine is published by Longdom Publishing in Brussels, Belgium.
• The American Journal of Translational Research specializes in publishing papers on clinical and experimental research. There are 45 citations of articles published in the journal.

Research Strategy

• We computed the total budget of the IMI by adding the commitment appropriations (€387,573,739 and €197,930,919). €387,573,739 + €197,930,919 = €585,504,658.
• We computed the budget increase for the UKRI MRC by deducting the budget of the previous year (£755.5 million) from the current year (£814.1 million.) £814.1 million - £755.5 million = £58.6 million.