Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Translational research is the new buzzword

Special Correspondent

Aim is to translate research findings into product processes

Thiruvananthapuram : Translational research is becoming the buzzword among researchers in plant and medical biotechnology in their attempts to take research findings out of laboratories and translate them into product processes.

Oommen V. Oommen, Dean, Faculty of Science, and P.R. Sudhakaran, Head of the Biochemistry Department, University of Kerala, said a lot would be heard about translational research in the coming days. Translational research refers to the "bench-to-bed" or lab-to-land concept in biotechnology research. It aims to translate novel findings in fundamental laboratories into testable hypotheses for evaluation in clinical trials.

Translational research aims to discuss the problems faced by scientists and clinicians around the world who are challenging traditional boundaries of science and medicine, Mr. Oommen said on the sidelines of a recent media seminar on biotechnology, sponsored by the Kesari Memorial Journalists Trust, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) and University of Kerala.

The two university professors are in the forefront in bringing the much-wanted linkage between basic researchers and clinical practitioners. In order to give a new dimension to this branch of research, the University of Kerala and the RGCB in association with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre, would host an international symposium on ``Translational Research: Apoptosis and Cancer'' from December 18 to 21.

Translational research is a two-way road where the attempt to cure should be complemented by the pursuit of understanding human diseases and their complexities. Therefore, the main aspect of translational medicine is to go back from the bedside to the bench with observations made in human studies.

In short, translational research could be defined as a discipline that envisages basic science studies that define biological effects of therapeutics in humans and investigations in humans that define the biology of disease and provide scientific foundation for development of new or improved therapies for human disease. Translational research is now being tried out in cancer treatment. But the RGCB has applied the concept in plant and animal studies, according to its director M.Radhakrishna Pillai. The RGCB has consortium programmes in translational research in gene prospecting and transgenic in black pepper and ginger, bio prospecting of clinically active molecular and neutraceuticals, genetic engineering for increased yield of plant derived anti-cancer agents and development of human papilloma virus vaccine.

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