Strategic Initiatives

The NCRR-funded Laser Microbeam and Medical Program (Irvine, CA) develops medical laser technologies in which laser light is used to detect, diagnose, and treat abnormal biological tissue. By evaluating the effects of light aimed at a target, biological structures can be visualized and functional properties, such as hemodynamics, can be gauged. Here, a short pulse from a laser is directed to an area with a vascular abnormality on a patient’s face. The light induces a small temperature rise in subsurface blood vessels, thereby allowing them to be imaged with a heat-sensitive camera. This procedure yields such information as depth, size, and density of the vessels, which can be used in planning treatment of vascular lesions. (Photo Credit: Paul Kennedy)

III. Technologies to Advance Translational Research

Technology underpins all of biomedical research—from basic discovery to clinical application. To solve structures of proteins or to study physiological mechanisms in vivo, biomedical researchers need advanced instruments, methods, and computing tools. In support of this effort, scientists, clinicians, and engineers work together at Biomedical Technology Research Resources (BTRRs) to create critical, often unique, technology and methods for application to a broad range of basic, translational, and clinical research. BTRR scientists also actively engage other biomedical researchers, providing them with training and access to these new tools. Thus, the broader research community benefits from these innovative technologies. The results of these interactions are disseminated both within the resources and through intensive collaborations with other leading laboratories. In addition to being rapidly and widely adopted by these individual laboratories, technologies developed in the BTRRs also are incorporated into state-of-the-art commercial products.

Strategy 1

Expand and ensure the development of technologies to support translational research.

NCRR will provide the intellectual leadership to help guide the development and availability of critical biomedical technology resources. This includes the need to:

Continually evaluate the utility of and provide sustained support for valued technologies.
Evaluate and promote the application of new technologies to the translational process.
Pursue new opportunities for technology development that have potential for a large impact in the clinical sciences (e.g., clinical proteomics and analysis of transient molecular complexes).

Action Items: In this leadership role, NCRR will:

Support continued availability of and access to leading-edge technologies and evaluate the balance and quality of BTRR with periodic advice from an external advisory panel.
Promote and facilitate the development of partnerships with NIH categorical ICs to leverage resources. NCRR plans to:
- Convene workshops and meetings organized in collaboration with NIH ICs to assess community needs and showcase the technologies that are available to investigators.
- Coordinate efforts among grantees to maximize efficiencies that enable greater access to technologies and information.
- Encourage the further development and translation of technology and basic research sponsored by the IDeA program, in collaboration with other NIH ICs.

A neurosurgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Mass., views a three-dimensional image of his patient’s brain. This image, which was obtained through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), shows the brain’s internal structures in relation to the tumor (in green). The image, generated through several MRI scans, helps the surgeon determine the precise location of the tumor and thus minimize the invasiveness of the surgery. (Photo Credit: Photo Researchers, Inc.)

Strategy 2

Further integrate biomedical technologies into clinical research activities.

It is imperative that biomedical technologies be employed to the maximum extent possible to facilitate and accelerate the movement of basic research to clinical applications. The success of this approach has been exemplified by BTRR scientists using laser spectroscopy in the operating room to help surgeons make better decisions more quickly. BTRR-created resources in glycomics were leveraged by a new National Cancer Institute program to translate discoveries into clinically useful biomarkers. Similarly, the CTSA program is beginning to access and leverage the translational expertise in the BTRR program.

Action Items: NCRR will:

Support biomedical projects that will link technology centers and clinical and translational programs to increase convergence of missions. These projects will often involve training and education in addition to research.
Foster relationships between CTSA and BTRR grantees that lead to joint proposals around a few clinically relevant issues. Alternatively, encourage BTRR grantees to cooperate with a COBRE, RCMI, or other clinical center around a specific focus, such as mass spectrometry.
Encourage grantees to bring students together to work on a project that clearly links the aims of a technology with a clinical research activity.

Strategy 3

Develop affordable and flexible technologies that can be applied to translational research.

Many advanced technologies under development by BTRR researchers have the potential to help not only in the research setting but also for routine clinical use. Optical sensors, clinical mass spectrometry, glycomics, proteomics, and informatics technologies applied to image-guided therapy are a few examples of areas in which focused effort may allow research tools to be developed sufficiently to become standard approaches. Collaboration among BTRR and CTSA researchers will combine the technical and clinical expertise necessary to drive these advances.

Potential targets include:

Data integration technology.
Mass spectrometry–based diagnostic tests.
Clinical applications of proteomics and glycomics.
Validation of vibrational spectroscopy as a real-time diagnostic tool.
Integration of imaging or microscopy approaches across a range of scales from sub-nano to micro.

Action Items: NCRR will:

Solicit applications for Small Business Awards (SBIR/STTR) to address technology needs not addressed through other means. By supporting these awards, NCRR will encourage partnerships between academics who understand the problems and the companies that develop the technologies.
Continue and expand instrument development with emphasis on developing instrumentation with a high potential for clinical application.
Continue to support the Shared Instrumentation Grant and High-End Instrumentation Grant programs, which provide NIH-funded investigators with cutting-edge research tools for their studies on human health and disease.
Explore novel approaches for placing advanced instrumentation into the hands of more clinical researchers.
Convene a workshop, with other federally-funded agencies, to explore instrument development opportunities for biomedical research.

These two photographs depict the P22 virus, a bacteriophage that infects the food-borne pathogen Salmonella. The left photo shows the virus in full view, while the right photo, a cross section, reveals the mechanism that packs DNA into the virus. Studying the structure of viruses in detail is important for many reasons, among them the possibility of locating targets for drugs that might keep a virus from replicating. These studies of P22 replication were made possible through the use of a cryo-electron microscope at the National Resource for Automated Molecular Microscopy (NRAMM) in La Jolla, Calif. In recent years, the NCRR-funded NRAMM has developed innovative tools that automate the process of collecting images, which speeds the process and reduces labor. More than 50 studies have been conducted at NRAMM that involved the cryo-electron microscope. (Photo Credit: Gabriel Lander, the Scripps Research Institute)

Strategy 4

Develop additional areas of expertise and knowledge, especially at the crossroads of mathematics/physics and medicine.

Many advanced technologies that now serve medical science had their roots in mathematics and physics. Translational science often entails the rapid generation of large analytical datasets (e.g., genomic, proteomic, metabolomic) to be integrated and interpreted using informatics systems designed by mathematicians. Therefore, it is critical to forge new alliances to encourage mathematicians and physicists to work at the interface between basic science and clinical opportunity, with the ultimate aim of improving the nation’s health.

Action Items: NCRR will:

Work with its grantees to convene workshops, short courses, degree programs, and graduate-level courses that support knowledge convergence across disciplines.
Foster the inclusion of students of mathematics, physics, and engineering in biomedical research experiences through the INBRE program.
Encourage the development of the critical faculty required for awarding advanced degrees in bioinformatics, for instance, in the IDeA program.

Strategy 5

Provide investments in information technology to facilitate greater collaboration and participation in translational research by minority and minority-serving research institutions and minority and medically underserved populations and communities.

Coordinated investment in information technology infrastructure is critical to enabling and advancing the activities of partnerships and consortia, particularly in underserved communities. Information technology resources need to be maximized for collaboration within and across an institution’s functional units, as well as to enable greater exposure to other clinical and translational research opportunities.

NCRR is committed to enhancing network connectivity so that research institutions in underserved states can participate in bandwidth-intensive science applications. Building on statewide INBREs, the IDeANet initiative provides regional access to national and international high-speed networks, computational resources, and bioinformatics software tools and training. IDeANet’s initial effort, dubbed the Lariat Project, established high-speed links to the Internet2 and National LambdaRail backbones for a consortium of universities in six largely rural western states. In addition, RTRN is facilitating the participation of the five RCMI Clinical Research Centers in collaborative clinical and translational research by providing the technology infrastructure and data management resources to support these studies.

The Northeast Network Initiative, launched in fiscal year 2007, is a collaborative research effort in five IDeA states to improve access to nationwide research networks and resources. NCRR is committed to enhancing the connectivity of networks so that research institutions, especially in underserved states, can participate in bandwidth-intensive science applications. NCRR’s support for network upgrades will enhance participation in NCRR programs at IDeA institutions located in these five states.

Action Items: NCRR will:

Expand the IDeANet initiative to other regions across the country to enhance network connectivity at additional IDeA-eligible institutions, including primarily undergraduate institutions and minority-serving institutions. In addition, IDeANet will eventually provide critical network infrastructure to IDeA and RCMI investigators across the nation, enabling collaboration and connections to other networks, such as NCRR’s Biomedical Informatics Research Network (BIRN) and the CTSA consortium.
Expand RTRN to enhance the clinical informatics resources available to additional RCMI sites that are engaged in clinical and translational research.
Facilitate partnerships with other federal agencies, such as AHRQ, HRSA, USDA, DOE, NSF, VA, DoD, FCC, and IHS, to leverage investments in network connectivity and health information technology. These partnerships will also foster increased collaboration among researchers, health care providers, and patients to speed translation of research into practice.