Translational Medicine is the interdisciplinary approach that aims to bring basic research from the bench to the bedside. It entails a close collaboration among academia, hospitals and industry with the aim to bridge the divide between knowledge production and optimization of the know-how use and transfer, in the clinical and healthcare setting.
Getting away from the traditional “investigator-centric” approach, translational medicine strives to seek the pathways where healthcare research innovation translates to therapeutic solutions, particularly nowadays that cost-control and efficacy put constantly more pressure on the rapid development and availability of new treatment options.
For that purpose an integrative approach is required to achieve the maximum health benefits. Translational medicine serves as both the platform and the means to achieve a high social impact through tighter collaboration between academia, industry and hospitals. There are numerous examples where translational medicine offers opportunities: biobaking, personalized medicine, regenerative medicine, bioinformatics etc. A challenge though is the partnership – business model, including the benefits for both sides as well as the interdisciplinary personnel that can work synergistically to achieve this approach.
Epa is a doctor-scientist. He is a physician by training, currently finishing up his PhD in Switzerland in the field of Regenerative Medicine at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH). His work centers on translational medicine; he is currently helping develop new tissue engineering techniques that enable re-growth of tissues and organs.
