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I know what Bench research is and I know what Clinical Research is, but only in the past few days have I seen Translational Research mentioned on SDN...what is it??
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What IS Translational Research??
- Thread starter elfish
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i actually saw that (i googled the topic first) but i still didn't really understand...so translational research is the translation of bench research into clinical applications? i'm sorry if i sound dense about this, but i never really understood research much (i quit after one semester)...please bear with me!
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I'm currently doing translational research.
The easiest way to put it is design and refinement of either therapeutic strategies or products. We do basic science research to discover products with properties we want, then figure out how to translate those discoveries into therapeutics. One direct example from my research are estrogens, which have neuroprotective effects, but also can cause breast/uterine cancers, but if they are modified to bind ER in brain but not in breast/uterus, then they may be useful as a therapeutic.
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It's basically when researchers go from cells to animals to humans. It's why schools/the NIH wants to train more MD/PhDs. Usually the researcher who develops a therapy is far removed from the clinical application. But the focus is to train researchers who can go from developing a therapy benchside to testing the therapy bedside. This could be an MD/PhD, an MD with a basic science bent, or possibly a PhD with a medical bent.
