Contents
Critical Resources
The Business End of Translational Research
University science and business faculties work together to advance science and medicine.
Translational research — taking scientific advances from the bench to the bedside — often involves transforming great ideas into concrete products — devices, drugs, tools or processes. It must, of course, be financially feasible both to develop and to disseminate these products. Thus, there is a clear role for a business-minded approach that helps propel translational research forward. With its focus on multidisciplinary collaboration, the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program creates an environment in which business principles can inform scientific development, speeding up the translational process. A number of CTSA grantees have forged relationships with business schools that take advantage of a natural synergy of resources. One example is the Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS) at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Nora Disis capitalizes on the collaborative environment and entrepreneurial spirit at the University of Washington. As head of the Institute of Translational Health Sciences, she paved the way for a group effort that brought together faculty and students in genetics research, bioengineering, business and law and resulted in a startup company that is pioneering a novel drug delivery device as well as other innovative approaches. Photo by Clare Mclean, University of Washington
At the ITHS, individual health scientists have been collaborating with business school faculty and students on isolated projects for some time. In crafting its CTSA proposal, faculty members learned that "the business school already had structures set up that were being used by some investigators, but nothing was institutionalized," said Nora Disis, who heads the ITHS. "People in both the business school and the law school had already been thinking about working with health scientists, so that began an easy synergy."
"The West Coast is a collaborative environment in general," Disis continued. "At the University of Washington, we have an entrepreneurial academic environment. Because we don't get very much money from the state legislature, we depend on each other for grants and infrastructure."
