Faculty Of Translational Medicine Boosts Support For Biomedical Researchers

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Clinical Trials / Drug Trials;  Nursing / Midwifery;  Medical Students / Training
Article Date: 08 Jun 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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A new Faculty of Translational Medicine has been launched to increase support for, and enhance collaboration among researchers as they search for new treatments and diagnostic tests for a range of diseases and conditions. The Faculty is based in the National Institute for Health Research Comprehensive Biomedical Research Center at Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals and King's College London.

It is the Centre's latest move to bolster the research efforts of clinicians, scientists, nurses, midwives, allied health professionals and managers involved with the BRC. Through the Faculty, members can:

• access training programmes, statistical advice and consultancy on clinical trial design
  
  
• receive support for the use of cutting-edge technologies
  
  
• run studies in dedicated clinical trials facilities
  
  
• keep abreast of the latest developments in translational research
  
  
• use the Faculty Resource Centre (opening in autumn 2009) where they can find the research and governance advice they need in on place, hotdesking facilities and opportunities to network with others working in translational medicine

Professor Graham Lord, Deputy Director of the comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre and Chair of its Training Committee said, 'The new Faculty of Translational Medicine will underpin our exciting interdisciplinary programmes of research, and the investments we have already made in research posts, facilities and equipment, training schemes and fora to keep people abreast of developments both locally and further afield.

'Our new Faculty will provide opportunities for members to interact and collaborate and to become leaders in translational medicine, thereby accelerating advances that will benefit patient care.'

Over 250 people from Guy's and St Thomas' and King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trusts, King's College London and the Centre's other partner organisations, which include Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry and St George's Healthcare NHS Trust have been granted Faculty membership. All of these individuals are either actively involved in, or support the Centre's translational research agenda which is focused on seven research themes and a number of cross-cutting disciplines*.

Sharon Jones, a research nurse in dermatology and one of the new Faculty members said, 'This new initiative is exciting for research nurses like me. The Faculty will offer the support and collaboration necessary to translate new information into actual patient benefit, in terms of gentler and more effective therapies and improved diagnosis and prognosis. The new clinical research facilities will enable us to care for research participants in a safe and dignified environment.'

Dr Katie Lacy, a Clinical Research Consultant within the BRC's dermatology theme said, 'The new Faculty will add support to an already flourishing research environment. My research involves investigating new potential treatments for malignant melanoma, a condition for which there are currently very few effective treatments once it has spread from the skin. The assistance provided by the Faculty will help me to ensure that scientific discoveries made in the laboratory can be developed as effective therapies that can be administered to patients as quickly as possible.'

Dr David King, Director, Central Commissioning Facility (CCF) at the National Institute for Health Research, said, 'I welcome the establishment of the Faculty of Translational Medicine, which will support the BRC's mission to drive innovation in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of ill health and to translate advances in biomedical research into real benefits for patients.'

The work of the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre is focused around seven key disease areas and a number of 'cross-cutting' disciplines where Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London have already established clinical and research strengths:

Themes

• Allergy and asthma
  
  
• Atherosclerosis (heart disease and stroke)
  
  
• Cancer
  
  
• Dermatology
  
  
• Immunology and infection
  
  
• Oral health
  
  
• Transplantation

Cross-cutting disciplines

• Genetics
  
  
• Paediatrics
  
  
• Imaging
  
  
• Health and social care
  
  
• Stem cell research
  
  
• The Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Disease
  
  
• Cell and molecular biophysics
  
  
• Developmental neurobiology

Source:
Andrea Ttofa
King's College London