Massachusetts
BU Clinical and Translational Science Institute
Boston, Massachusetts
Principal Investigator
David M. Center, M.D., Boston University
Lisa Gagalis, R.N. (right), a study coordinator at Boston University Medical Campus, performs lung function testing on research participant Ashley Mendez, who is enrolled in a clinical trial of omalizumab, an antibody-based treatment for asthma. This trial is being conducted as part of the Inner-City Asthma Consortium funded by NIAID. (Vivian Borek Photo)
The Boston University Clinical and Translational Science Institute (BU CTSI) will integrate, connect and expand research and programs across traditional academic departments and schools. The institute will act as a bridge between disciplines to facilitate interactions by incorporating multiple key programs that support the university-wide commitment to a home for translational research.
The CTSA grant will allow the institute to build on existing strengths to create an environment linking faculty members, trainees and university programs to speed the translation of innovations in medical science to improve maintenance of health and diagnosis and treatment of diseases and share these innovations with other university-based CTSAs. The BU CTSI environment also will support the bidirectional development and translation of ideas that begin in the clinic to the BU scientific community and back to identify new ways to improve health and delivery of health care services. Moreover, the institute will significantly enhance existing partnerships with Boston's community health centers, transforming the conduct of clinical and translational research by infusing it with community-based perspectives and needs.
Harvard Catalyst: The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center
Boston, Massachusetts
Principal Investigator
Lee Marshall Nadler, M.D., Harvard University
Akiko Yabuuchi, a Ph.D. in George Daley's lab at Children's Hospital Boston, conducts stem cell research inside a clean room. Daley is a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and part of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. (Harvard University Photo/Justin Ide)
Harvard Catalyst: The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center will alter the culture of clinical and translational research at Harvard by creating structured and effective methods to connect and support individual investigators and teams of investigators. The center will create managed approaches to focusing the skills of experts in diverse disciplines to find innovative solutions to challenging questions in clinical and translational research. It will deploy both new and old resources more effectively, lowering the barriers to the initiation and conduct of clinical and translational research within and across institutions.
In parallel, the center will build a structure to encourage initiation of new clinical and translational research projects and provide mechanisms for bringing together interdisciplinary and cross-institutional teams, opening the doors of the clinical and translational research enterprise to researchers and engineers with diverse backgrounds, skills and resources. The center will educate the broader Harvard research community on the opportunities, challenges and goals of clinical and translational research.
The overarching goals focus on the individual development of clinical and translational researchers and alignment of incentives with desired outcomes. Structured processes will be created that will enhance the ability of investigators to identify information, seek expertise and access tools necessary to conceive and successfully complete clinical and translational experiments.
Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute
Boston, Massachusetts
Principal Investigator
Harry P. Selker, M.D., M.S.P.H., Tufts University
Hans Klingemann, M.D., is director of the Bone Marrow and Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Program at Tufts Medical Center. This program is an example of the clinical and translational research conducted by Tufts Medical Center and Tufts University researchers. (Tufts Medical Center Photo)
The Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute will build on long-standing traditions of multidisciplinary collaboration. The institute will leverage that history to produce ground-breaking translational research to bring therapies to patients more quickly. Among the endeavors the institute will undertake will be a program aimed at cultivating connections between researchers and community groups, transforming the research process by developing ways for these groups to learn about each other's needs, interests and perspectives. The program includes annual needs assessments with community partners to identify perceived health needs and research priorities. This partnership will facilitate the recruitment of diverse participants in research efforts to accelerate the adoption of evidence-based care into clinical practice settings. The emphasis on community involvement uniquely reflects both Tufts University and Tufts Medical Center's dedication to active citizenship and biomedical research by including multiple hospitals, community organizations, health plans, industry and others in Massachusetts and nationally.
University of Massachusetts Center for Clinical and Translational Science
Worcester, Massachusetts
Principal Investigator
John Lewis Sullivan, M.D., University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester
Drs. Thomas Mayer, Craig Lilly and Joanne Meisner stand in front of a robotic, liquid-handling instrument used to isolate plasma, DNA and RNA from volunteer blood samples in the Biorepository Laboratory at the University of Massachusetts. (University of Massachusetts Medical School Photo)
The University of Massachusetts Center for Clinical and Translational Science, housed within the only public medical school in Massachusetts, has transformed the conduct of clinical and translational research by providing an academic home for all university bench-to-bedside-to-population investigators. By recruiting leaders and establishing innovative research core facilities, we aim to: 1) accelerate early phase translational studies and develop new therapies, devices and interventions based upon UMass discoveries; 2) integrate unique networks of clinical research and health care delivery in Central New England and Massachusetts to build and expand clinical effectiveness research and implementation research capacity and enhance patient and community outreach and participation in clinical/population-based research; 3) work collaboratively with all campuses and schools of the UMass system in developing programs, curricula and faculty support systems that promote careers in clinical and translational research.
The university has established the UMass Advanced Therapeutics Cluster (UMATC), which includes the RNA Therapeutics Institute, the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, and the Gene Therapy Center. UMATC joins the Massachusetts Biologic Laboratories, Meyers Primary Care Institute and Commonwealth Medicine to speed discoveries in clinical and translational research.
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