"The ACTRI is part of a national
Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) consortium created to accelerate laboratory discoveries into treatments for patients. The CTSA program is led by the
National Institutes of Health's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS).”[1]
In order to evaluate and improve our efforts to advance translational research, the ACTRI has adapted and embraced the multi-T phase concept of translational research, described below.
Definition of Translational Research
Translational research involves moving knowledge and discovery gained from the basic sciences to its application in clinical and community settings. This concept is often summarized by the phrases "bench-to-bedside" and "bedside-to-community" research [2].
T-Phases of Translational Health Research
As the concept of translational health research has evolved with practice and time, it is clear that translational research encompasses a bidirectional continuum. For didactic purposes, translational research has often been described in phases of translation, or "T-phases." The ACTRI has adopted a model of 5 phases (T0-T4), adapted from Khoury et al. [3]:
Example of T0-T4 Translational Health Research
T0 | Identification of opportunities and approaches to health problem. | Basic research question | Are there specific gene mutations associated with breast cancer? |
T1 | Discovery of candidate health application | Phase I and II clinical trials; observational studies | Is there an association between BRCA mutations and breast cancer? |
T2 | Health application to evidence-based practice guidelines | Phase III clinical trials; observational studies; evidence synthesis and guidelines development | What is the positive predictive value of BRCA mutations in at-risk women? |
T3 | Practice guidelines to health practices | Dissemination research; implementation research; diffusion research Phase IV clinical trials | What proportion of women who meet the family history criteria are tested for BRCA and what are the barriers to testing? |
T4 | Practice to population health impact | Outcomes research (includes many disciplines); population monitoring of morbidity, mortality, benefits, and risks studies | Does BRCA testing in asymptomatic women reduce breast cancer incidence or improve outcomes? |
References
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Reproduced with permission from the
Institute of Translational Health Sciences.
Khoury MJ. et al. The continuum of translation research in genomic medicine: how can we accelerate the appropriate integration of human genomic discoveries into health care and disease prevention? Genet Med 2007:9(10):665-674.