Washington University School of Medicine has received a $50 million federal grant aimed at turning research findings into improvements in human health.
The grant is the renewal of an award from the National Institutes of Health. It will support Wash U's Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences (ICTS), one of 60 such centers in the U.S.
ICTS director Dr. Bradley Evanoff says the institute does not focus on one particular disease or clinical specialty. "We are charged with speeding the application of research findings in prevention, diagnosis and treatment across a wide spectrum of health conditions and research disciplines," Evanoff said.
Co-director Kelle Moley says the grant will go towards bridging the gap between laboratory research and patient care. “It really stresses the application of our findings to clinical care and clinical medicine," Moley said. "And the focus of this grant is really to translate the things we find in mice, in cell culture, to a treatment we can use in patients.”
Over the next five years, ICTS will use the funding to promote three priority areas:
- translating research in genetics and genomics into patient care;
- developing and evaluating new medical treatments; and
- improving ways to spread the word about new research findings so they can become part of regular medical practice.
The ICTS is a regional consortium whose partners include BJC HealthCare, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis Children's Hospital, Saint Louis University, the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, the Goldfarb School of Nursing, and the nursing schools at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.
Follow Véronique LaCapra on Twitter: @KWMUScience
