Translational medicine (often called translational science, of which it is a form) develops the

clinical practice ''Clinical Practice'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed open access medical journal. It covers good clinical practice and health care. The journal was established in 2004 as ''Therapy'' by Future Drugs Ltd, obtaining its current name in 2012 when it wa ...

applications of the basic science aspects of the

biomedical sciences Biomedical sciences are a set of sciences applying portions of natural science or formal science, or both, to develop knowledge, interventions, or technology that are of use in healthcare or public health. Such disciplines as medical microbio ...

; that is, it translates basic science to applied science in medical practice. It is defined by the European Society for Translational Medicine as "an interdisciplinary branch of the biomedical field supported by three main pillars: benchside, bedside, and community". The goal of translational medicine is to combine disciplines, resources, expertise, and techniques within these pillars to promote enhancements in prevention, diagnosis, and therapies. Accordingly, translational medicine is a highly interdisciplinary field, the primary goal of which is to coalesce assets of various natures within the individual pillars in order to improve the global healthcare system significantly.

History

Translational medicine is a rapidly growing discipline in biomedical research and aims to expedite the discovery of new diagnostic tools and treatments by using a multi-disciplinary, highly collaborative, "bench-to-bedside" approach. Within public health, translational medicine is focused on ensuring that proven strategies for disease treatment and prevention are actually implemented within the community. One prevalent description of translational medicine, first introduced by the Institute of Medicine's Clinical Research Roundtable, highlights two roadblocks (i.e., distinct areas in need of improvement): the first translational block (T1) prevents basic research findings from being tested in a clinical setting; the second translational block (T2) prevents proven interventions from becoming standard practice. The National Institutes of Health has made a major push to fund translational medicine, especially within biomedical research, with a focus on cross-functional collaborations (e.g., between researchers and clinicians); leveraging new technology and data analysis tools; and increasing the speed at which new treatments reach patients. In December 2011, The National Center for Advancing Translational Science was established within the National Institutes of Health to "transform the translational science process so that new treatments and cures for disease can be delivered to patients faster." The Clinical and Translational Science Awards, established in 2006, supports 60 centers across the country that provide "academic homes for translational sciences and supporting research resources needed by local and national research communities." According to an article published in 2007 in Science Career Magazine, in 2007 to 2013 the European Commission targeted a majority of its €6 billion budget for health research to further translational medicine.

Training and education

In recent years, a number of educational programs have emerged to provide professional training in the skills necessary for successfully translating research into improved clinical outcomes. These programs go by various names (including Master of Translational Medicine and Master of Science in Bioinnovation). Many such programs emerge from bioengineering departments, often in collaboration with clinical departments.

Master and PhD programs

The

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

has been running an MSc in Translational Medicine program since 2007. It is a 3-year online distance learning programme aimed at the working health professional. Aalborg University Denmark has been running a master's degree in translational medicine since 2009. A master's degree program in translational medicine was started at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

in 2010. In 2010,

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

and UC San Francisco used a founding grant from Andy Grove to launch a joint program that became the Master of Translational Medicine (MTM). The program links the Bioengineering department at Berkeley with the Bioengineering and Therapeutic Science department at UCSF to give students a one-year experience in fostering medical innovation.

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a non-profit, Tertiary referral hospital, tertiary, 915-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science centre, academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars ...

in Los Angeles, California was accredited in 2012 for a doctoral program in Biomedical Science and Translational Medicine. The PhD program focuses on biomedical and clinical research that relate directly to developing new therapies for patients. Since 2013, the Official Master in Translational Medicine-MSc from the University of Barcelona offers the opportunity to gain an excellent training through theoretical and practical courses. Furthermore, this master is linked to the doctoral programme “Medicine and Translational Research”, with quality mention from the National Agency for the Quality Evaluation and Accreditation (

ANECA The National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (, ANECA) is the authorised agency of the Spanish government whose aim is to provide external quality assurance for the Spanish higher education system and to contribute to its constant ...

). In Fall 2015, the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

http://www.ccnymtm.org established a master in translational medicine program. A partnership between The Grove School of Engineering and the Sophie Davis School for Biomedical Education/CUNY School of Medicine, this program provides scientists, engineers, and pre-med students with training in product design, intellectual property, regulatory affairs, and medical ethics over 3 semesters. The University of Toronto The Master of Health Science (MHSc) in Translational Research in Health Sciences is a two-year, course-based program is designed for interprofessional students from diverse backgrounds (such as medicine, life sciences, social sciences, engineering, design, and communications) who want to learn creative problem-solving skills, strategies, and competencies to translate (scientific) knowledge into innovations that improve medicine, health, and care. They have international speakers and contributors, including Dr Iseult Roche from The UK. Translational medicine is a key to the future of international health and in facilitating public health and promoting health policy to actively be implemented to establish care.

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

St George's, University of London St George's, University of London (SGUL), legally the St George's Hospital Medical School, was a public medical school from 1733 to 2024 in South London, England. It merged with City, University of London to form City St George's, University of ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

Universities run post-graduate courses in Translational Medicine too. The George Washington University's School of Medicine & Health Sciences offers a PhD program in Translational Health Sciences. The University of Manchester, Newcastle University and Queen's University Belfast also offer research-focussed Masters of Research (MRes) courses in Translational Medicine. Queen's University's School of Graduate Studies offers both an MSc and PhD program in Translational Medicine.

University of Windsor The University of Windsor (UWindsor, U of W, or UWin) is a public university, public research university in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's southernmost university. It has approximately 17,500 students. The university was incorporated by ...

's Faculty of Graduate Studies offers a one year MSc program in Translational Health Science.

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

has a PhD program in Bio-Innovation to foster design and implementation of innovative biomedical technologies.

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

's College of Public Health offers a Master of Science in Clinical Research and Translational Medicine. The program is jointly offered with the Lewis Katz School of Medicine.

Mahidol University Mahidol University is an autonomous university, autonomous public university, public research university in Thailand. The university was founded as part of Siriraj Hospital in 1888. It was first called the University of Medical Science in 1943, ...

at Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi hospital has a Master and PhD programme in Translational Medicine since 2012. Mahidol University is the first University in Thailand and in Southeast Asia. The most of programme lecturers are physicians and clinicians who contribute in many fields of study such as

Cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

Allergy Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, are various conditions caused by hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include Allergic rhinitis, hay fever, Food allergy, food al ...

and

Immunology Immunology is a branch of biology and medicine that covers the study of Immune system, immune systems in all Organism, organisms. Immunology charts, measures, and contextualizes the Physiology, physiological functioning of the immune system in ...

Haematology Hematology ( spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the production ...

, Paediatric,

Rheumatology Rheumatology () is a branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis and management of disorders whose common feature is inflammation in the bones, muscles, joints, and internal organs. Rheumatology covers more than 100 different complex diseases, c ...

, etc. Here, the student will be directly exposed to patients. To find out the thing in between basic science and clinical application. University of Würzburg started a Master programme in Translational Medicine in 2018. It is aimed at medical students in the third or fourth year pursuing a career as a Clinician Scientist. St. George's University of London offers a 1-year Translational Medicine master's programme since 2018, including pathways leading to a Master of Research (MRes),

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

(MSc), Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) or

Postgraduate Diploma fILE:Prédio Pós Graduação IMECC Unicamp.jpg, The State University of Campinas, as well as many Brazilian universities, offer Postgraduate courses in Brazil A postgraduate diploma (PgD, PgDip, PGDip, PG Dip., PGD, Dipl. PGD) is a postgraduat ...

(PGDip). Both master's degrees include a research component that makes up 33% of the MSc pathway and 58% of the MRes pathway. Taught modules are designed to cover major areas of modern translational science including

drug development Drug development is the process of bringing a new pharmaceutical drug to the market once a lead compound has been identified through the process of drug discovery. It includes preclinical research on microorganisms and animals, filing for regu ...

genomics Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of molecular biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, ...

and development of skills related to research and

data analysis Data analysis is the process of inspecting, Data cleansing, cleansing, Data transformation, transforming, and Data modeling, modeling data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions, and supporting decision-making. Da ...

. Perdana University's Graduate School of Medicine in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia offers a Master of Science (MSc) in Translational Medicine. Taipei Medical University's College of Medical Science and Technology in Taipei, Taiwan offers an MSc and PhD program in Translational Scienc

Diplomas and courses

Academy of Translational Medicine Professionals offers a regular professional certification course "Understanding Translational Medicine Tools and Techniques". James Lind Institute has been conducting a Postgraduate Diploma in Translational Medicine since early 2013. The program has been supported by the Universiti Sains Malaysia. The University of Southern California School of Pharmacy offers a course in translational medicine.

International organizations

European Society for Translational Medicine

The European Society for Translational Medicine is a global non-profit and neutral healthcare organization whose principal objective is to enhance world-wide healthcare by using translational medicine approaches, resources and expertise. The society facilitates cooperation and interaction among clinicians, scientists, academia, industry, governments, funding and regulatory agencies, investors and policy makers in order to develop and deliver high-quality translational medicine programs and initiatives with overall aim to enhance the healthcare of global population. The society's goal is to enhance research and development of novel and affordable diagnostic tools and treatments for the clinical disorders affecting global population. The society provides an annual platform in the form of global congresses where global key opinion leaders, scientists from bench side, public health professionals, clinicians from bedside and industry professionals gather and take part in the panel discussions and scientific sessions on latest updates and developments in translational medicine field including biomarkers, omics sciences, cellular and molecular biology, data mining & management, precision medicine & companion diagnostics, disease modelling, vaccines and community healthcare. In response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the European Society for Translational Medicine announced a global virtual congress on COVID-19 (EUSTM-2020). The Virtual Congress focused on the key principles of Translational Medicine: Bench side, Bed side and Public Health. The congress aims to address current challenges, highlight novel solutions and identify critical hurdles as they apply to COVID-19.

Academy of Translational Medicine Professionals

Academy of Translational Medicine Professionals is working to advance the ongoing knowledge and skills for clinicians and scientific professionals at all levels. Academy's high quality, standard and ethical training and educational programs ensure that all clinical and scientific professionals achieve excellence in their respective fields. Programs are accredited by the European Society for Translational Medicine.

Fellowship program

Academy of Translational Medicine Professionals offers fellowship program which is open to highly experienced professionals who have a record of significant achievements in benchside, bedside or community health fields.

References

External links

European Society for Translational MedicineAmerican Journal of Translational ResearchInstitute for Translational Medicine and TherapeuticsTranslational Medicine:Tools And Techniques
(a user guide for institutional implementation) {{DEFAULTSORT:Translational Medicine sv:Translationell forskning