Collaborations among government, academia, industry and nonprofit patient organizations are crucial for successful translation; no one organization can succeed alone. To this end, NCATS leads innovative and collaborative approaches in translational science that are cross-cutting and applicable to the broad scientific community.
NCATS encourages partnerships and collaborations across all disciplines and research sectors, including investigators from NIH, universities and medical centers, other federal agencies, small businesses and industry, and patient groups and advocacy organizations. The Center convenes expert teams from diverse fields — including efficacy, toxicity, data sharing, biomarkers and clinical application — to reduce, remove or bypass significant bottlenecks across the entire continuum of translation.
For NCATS, patient engagement is vital for every step of the research process. Incorporating the patient perspective builds trust and improves the quality of the research by enabling investigators to design studies that measure outcomes of importance to patients. This engagement also provides researchers with better access to participants for clinical studies.
Among other benefits, NCATS’ collaborative approach helps maximize public and private resources, expand scientific knowledge, and increase participation in clinical research — all of which help speed the drug development process and get treatments to patients faster.
NCATS programs that focus on forming innovative collaborations and partnerships include:
- Assay Development and Screening Technologies
- Bridging Interventional Development Gaps
- Discovering New Therapeutic Uses for Existing Molecules
- Matrix Combination Screening
- NCATS Chemical Genomics Center
- RNA Interference
- Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases
- Tissue Chip for Drug Screening
- Toxicology in the 21st Century
Learn more about other translational issues NCATS aims to address: