Review ArticleTranslational research: understanding the continuum from bench to bedside
Section snippets
Importance of Translation
Although translation has been discussed for more than 30 years,1 the process recently has become a major focus in biomedical research. In the 2001 Crossing the Quality Chasm report, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) identified the importance and difficulty of translating basic scientific knowledge to patient care.2 In that same year, the editors of The Journal of the American Medical Association published a call for papers discussing TR, identifying this work as vital to the progress of
The Translation Lexicon
To discuss translation, it is necessary to understand a new lexicon that has developed in the literature and may be difficult to interpret without the appropriate background. The IOM Clinical Research Roundtable first described the current terminology and model of TR in 2003. They described a 2-phase process of research progressing from (1) basic science to clinical science, then (2) from clinical science to public health impact. In their framework, they identified “translational blocks”
The Biomedical Research Translation Continuum
We reviewed the evolution of translation through a detailed evaluation of the published literature. This review begins with an editorial from the New England Journal of Medicine in 1974, progresses to the first workable definition by Dr. Thomas A. Waldmann in the early 1990s, and ends with the current model from Blue Highways and the “3 T’s” Road Map.1, 11, 12, 16 Noting that obscurity exists in the current terminology and model of translation, we then created a framework to describe the
Conclusions
The loss of scientific discoveries along the Biomedical Research Translation Continuum is a major public health problem. Despite multibillion dollar research funding and considerable laboratory productivity, only a fraction of promising basic science discoveries result in applied clinical practices and health gains.7 As a result, immense research budgets, a wealth of scientific knowledge, and significant public health benefits are lost in translation. Therefore, it is vital that we understand
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