Defining Translational Science
Translational Science is the field that generates scientific and operational innovations that overcome longstanding challenges along the translational research pipeline. These include scientific, operational, financial and administrative innovations that transform the way that research is done, making it faster, more efficient, and more impactful.
"To translate science into practice more effectively, we must address these key needs:
- To increase the pace of development and availability of treatments
- To enable more individuals and communities to contribute to and benefit from translational science
- To identify and address inefficiencies in translation that slow and even stop research efforts"
Joni L. Rutter, Ph.D.
Director
National Center for Advancing Translational Science
Consider Translational Science as systems engineering. Researchers should identify rate-limiting barriers in research processes, and focus their investigations on innovative ways to remove or reduce those barriers. While Translational Research focuses on a specific disease or condition, Translational Science outcomes can be generalized to many diseases or conditions. Translational Science is disease agnostic.
Differentiating between Translational Science and Translational Research
In 2021, the NCATS CTSA funding apparatus shifted from the original focus on Translational Research to a focus on Translational Science. Confounding the adjustment within institutions to the new focus was the historical interchanging of these two terms to mean the same thing. NCATS-funded CTSA programs now require that Pilot funding and Element E research programs be Translational Science research - not Translational Research. CTSA hubs are recognizing the need to educate themselves, their staff, and their potential awardees on how to differentiate between these two.
Twelve CTSA hubs led by UC Irvine Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, collaborated to create a list of questions based on the NCATS Translational Science Principles, and then test the effectiveness of those questions to identify funded pilot projects focused on Translational Science rather than Translational Research. They learned that the most effective way to distinguish Translational Science from Translational Research was to use these questions based on the Translational Science principles of Generalizability and Efficiency. These questions are:
- This project addresses a common bottleneck in translational research.
- The knowledge gained from this project will be generalizable to a variety of diseases.
- This project approaches research challenges and development of solutions by seeking commonalities across research on a range of diseases and conditions.
- If successful, this project will improve translational research by making it more efficient or effective.
- This project will develop and implement innovations in scientific approaches, methods and/or technologies to accelerate the pace of translational research.
- This project encourages transformative ideas and risk taking toward achieving the overall goal of improving the translational process.
- If successful, this project will yield information that will accelerate translational research.
Schneider M, Woodworth A, Ericson M, Boerger L, Denne S, Dillon P, Duguid P, Ghanem E, Hunt J, Li JS, McCoy R, Prokofieva N, Rodriguez V, Sparks C, Zaleski J, Xiang H. Distinguishing between translational science and translational research in CTSA pilot studies: A collaborative project across 12 CTSA hubs. J Clin Transl Sci. 2023 Dec 18;8(1):e4. doi: 10.1017/cts.2023.700. PMID: 38384905; PMCID: PMC10877521.
Resources
What is Translational Science? (Webpage Harold and Muriel Block ICTR of Einstein-Montefiore)
Opportunities and challenges in translational science (Publication Austin CP)
Distinguishing between translational science and translational research in CTSA pilot studies: A collaborative project across 12 CTSA hubs (Publication Schneider et al)