NIH awards nearly $23M to University of Chicago for translationa...( The National Institutes of Health ha...)

The National Institutes of Health has awarded one of 12 Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) for 2007 to a team based at the University of Chicago Medical Center. These awards, together with 12 CTSAs awarded in 2006, form the core of an NIH effort to build a national consortium of select centers that will "transform how clinical and translational research is conducted," ultimately enabling researchers to provide new and better treatments more efficiently and quickly to patients.

To improve human health, according to the NIH's Roadmap for Medical Research, scientific discoveries must be translated into practical applications. Such discoveries typically begin at the bench with basic research in which scientists study disease at a molecular or cellular level then progress to the clinical level, or the patient's bedside, and ultimately to widespread adoption as standard clinical practice.

This award to the University of Chicago provides more than $22.6 for a series of such translational projects. It will bring together basic scientists from the biological, physical, behavioral and social sciences, physician-scientists from the medical school, and faculty from the schools of public policy, social service administration, and business. And it will put all those researchers in close contact with the residents of the South Side of Chicago.

Together, they will conduct basic, translational and clinical research; speed the transition of new knowledge from laboratory bench to patient bedside; push the boundaries of personalized medicine; and improve the health of the community. "Through collaboration and leadership, these sites are serving as discovery engines that can rapidly translate research into prevention strategies and clinical treatments for the people who need them," said Elias Zerhouni, MD, director of the National Institutes of Health. "The CTSA consortium also represents our investment in the future as it prepares the
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