Through the institute's Clinical and Translational Science Award*, the ITS seeks to facilitate translational research as a rigorous discipline, develop translational research training programs at all levels in the graduate continuum, effectively conduct and bridge step 1 translational research to steps 2 and 3, and interface productively with the national CTSA consortium. In particular, this CTSA will help UTMB to build teams of researchers with diverse skills who can work effectively toward positive health outcomes. These teams will also serve as exemplary learning environments for the next generation of translational investigators. Training activities include a Clinical and Translational Scholars program, an Academy of Mentors, a seminar series and team training workshops.

*The UTMB Institute for Translational Sciences is partially supported by NIH grants (UL1RR029876 and KL2RR029875).

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Finally, we are increasingly aware that the optimal approach to translational research involves effective communication. Basic scientists provide clinicians with new tools for use in patients and, in turn, clinicians provide basic scientists with feedback on how these tools work. Similarly, dialog with community representatives identifies new opportunities for translational research and increases its impact; and for this reason the ITS will seek to facilitate communication between basic scientists, clinicians, subjects and the community.

Therefore, the goals of the ITS are to:

1. Facilitate translational research as a discipline at UTMB;
2. Stimulate the application of postgenomic tools in the conduct of translational research and monitor their effectiveness;
3. Proactively catalyze multidisciplinary translational teams;
4. Develop training programs in translational research at all levels of graduate training;
5. Facilitate productive communication in translational research amongst faculty, subjects and the communities they live in;
6. Interface with the national CTSA consortium.

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2. Prioritize trainee involvement in a team-based culture. Our career development and training programs are intended for trainees at all levels, from predoctoral (medical, graduate and nursing), to postdoctoral, and early-career faculty. Our intent is to explicitly integrate new trainees into our MTTs, so that we foster a culture of team-oriented research, providing examples of how productive interdisciplinary teams function and can be rewarded within the framework of an AHC.

3. Integrate systems biological approaches into translational research. In the postgenomic era, high-throughput tools such as genomics, proteomics, and biomedical informatics provide unique opportunities for translation, including biomarker identification, risk stratification, and multidimensional interrogation of complex biological processes. These present important opportunities to make significant advances in understanding human biological systems and how they are modified in disease. In fact, ITS supported MTTs have successfully identified disease signatures in atopic asthma, otitis media, hepatitis C-induced hepatocellular carcinoma, and burns injury.

4. Participate in the national CTSA consortium.  We are currently developing an infrastructure for effective data sharing with other CTSAs. To this end, we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a joint UTMB-UTHSC Center in Personalized Health Informatics. This is a joint training and research center in partnership with UT Houston School of Health Information Sciences. This collaboration make us well positioned to participate in the national CTSA consortium.

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