The semantics of translational research

Jason Scott Robert
Arizona State University, USA

The phrase “translational research” rings loudly in Washington, DC and around the developed world. In the US, it emanates from the halls of Congress and from the intra- and extramural programs of the National Institutes of Health, and reverberates throughout patient advocacy groups, professional societies, and private philanthropies supporting health research. Of course, the idea of translating research results into clinical applications is not a new one; indeed, it may be coextensive with the history of biomedical research. But it is increasingly recognized that translation is neither easy nor inevitable, that the tangible results of biomedical research are difficult to discern, and yet that results are critically important in order to justify continued investment in research. As one recent commentator has aptly observed, “translational research means different things to different people, but it seems important to almost everyone”. Everybody wants ‘results’. Treatments and cures for diseases top the list of desired results, as do public and population health strategies for disease prevention, and so a new social contract has emerged for how biomedical science works in the contemporary world. Biomedical scientists, whether they like it or not, must promise specific results early in the research process, must produce results sooner and not later, and must promote their results so as to assist in the ‘translation’ of research into outcomes. But what is ‘translational research?’ What are the determinants of translation? What are the criteria for success? What are the costs and opportunity costs of the new social contract? And what policy innovations are required to minimize those costs and to facilitate appropriate translational research? This presentation will explore the multiple meanings, methods, and modes of translational research.

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