Translational Medicine

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The term Translational Medicine (TM) encompasses the interdisciplinary activities that deal with the fast and efficient implementation of preclinical research in clinical development .

definition

The concept emerged in the 1990s and was first known under the motto “ bench to bedside ” (literally: from the laboratory table to the patient bed , i.e. from the research laboratory to clinical application).

The European Society for Translational Medicine (EUSTM) defines TM as “an interdisciplinary branch of biomedicine supported by three main pillars: laboratory research, bedside treatment and the scientific community. The aim of TM is to bring together different disciplines, resources , expertise and technical know-how from laboratory / bedside / science (learners) in order to promote the further development and improvement of prevention , diagnosis and therapy ”.

In practical terms, this means that discoveries in basic research are efficiently led to potential clinical application by following evidence-based guidelines and thus the improved clinical care leads to an improvement in the health of the population.

Examples

TM deals with the translation of e.g. B. In-vitro models or animal models for use in humans. These can be laboratory methods that open up new avenues in diagnosis , but also attempts to explain why a certain disease develops under certain conditions. An example would be the confirmation of a theory (proof-of-concept) that was presented with a knock-out mouse in a clinical study in humans, or a drug that has been shown to be effective and safe in rats, to try out in people. To this end, interdisciplinary teams from the preclinical and clinical departments work closely together. Depending on the goal, the teams include a. Specialists in the fields of biology, biochemistry, biomedicine, bioengineering, medicine, chemistry, pharmacology, pharmacy, physiology, statistics, toxicology, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, experimental medicine, drug safety. In the development of new drugs that are later to be approved for humans, specialists from the approval departments are already involved at this stage, as there are a number of ethical and regulatory hurdles to be overcome before a first-in-man study can start. Due to the significantly increased legal requirements in recent years, there is an increasing specialization of those involved in this phase of development. To this end, universities are increasingly setting up spin-offs that take over the transition from purely academic research to commercial development. Sometimes this transition from academic to commercial medical research is also referred to as translational medicine, although it doesn't quite get the real meaning. Since the first steps into clinical application are very expensive and require experience with this very special phase of development, many interesting approaches do not go beyond this step. That is why the BMBF has set up competence centers for clinical research, the so-called coordination centers for clinical studies (KKS). These should u. a. help that faster progress takes place from the laboratory experiment to the bedside.

courses

Since 2018, the state of Bavaria has sponsored the two master’s courses Translational Medicine and Translational Neuroscience at the University of Würzburg as part of the Bavarian Elite Network .

Web links

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Randall J. Cohrs, Tyler Martin, Parviz Ghahramani, Luc Bidaut, Paul J. Higgins and Aamir Shahzad: Translational Medicine definition by the European Society for Translational Medicine , New Horizons in Translational Medicine, March 2015, Volume 2 (3), p 86-88: “An interdisciplinary branch of the biomedical field supported by three main pillars: benchside, bedside and community. The goal of TM is to combine disciplines, resources, expertise, and techniques within these pillars to promote enhancements in prevention, diagnosis, and therapies. "
  2. ↑ Occasionally and seldom, instead of "translational medicine" (analogous to "translational (medicine) research") the term "translational medicine" is also used.
  3. ↑ https://www.km.bayern.de/pressemitteilung/10806/nr-261-vom-06-07-2017.html
  4. ↑ https://www.biologie.uni-wuerzburg.de/aktuelles/aktuellesarchiv/single-mektiven/news/zwei-master-fuer-den-wissenschaftlichen-nachwuchs-1/
  5. ↑ Elitenetzwerk Bayern - Funding of two elite courses in Würzburg ( Memento from February 9, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), br.de from July 6, 2017