Medical translation of basic research discoveries into clinical applications - a major challenge

Medical translation of basic research discoveries into clinical applications has turned out to be a major challenge for the European research area. A major bottleneck is the fragmented nature of basic and clinical research infrastructure, leading to unnecessary delays and difficulties in drug development or the implementation of new diagnostic strategies.

EATRIS – European Advanced Translational Research InfraStructure in Medicine – is a strategic EU project that aims to offer a research infrastructure to help overcome bottlenecks currently hampering the transfer both of basic research findings into clinical application and of clinical observations to basic research. In a unique partnership, governmental and scientific organisations form the EATRIS consortium to develop a master plan for setting up the provision of an infrastructure on a European level. The EATRIS idea is to organize under one roof multidisciplinary, creative work atmosphere, open labs, comprehensive modern equipment, scientific and legal expertise with central facilities and services and a translational research curriculum.

EATRIS will enable a faster and more efficient translation of research findings into the development of innovative strategies for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases which are of particular relevance for European member states and that have a high medical and economic burden. Therefore EATRIS will at first focus on the following diseases:

• Cancer
• Diseases of the cardiovascular system
• Brain disorders & advanced imaging
• Metabolic syndrome
• Infectious disorders

In order to implement the goals of EATRIS it is important that the Research Community and Governmental agencies work hand in hand. Together, these entities will focus on the following aspects:

• Legal framework
• Framework for governance
• Quality criteria for translational infrastructure
• Specification for EATRIS research infrastructure and conditions for use
• Harmonisation for a Europe-wide infrastructure (national and international)
• Financial Assessment
• Fund raising

 EATRIS will be a distributed pan-European infrastructure consisting of a network of well-renowned biomedical translation research centres across Europe. In its current preparatory phase, EATRIS includes governmental and scientific partners from Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Greece is an emerging partner.

However, EATRIS is open for partners from other countries already in the preparatory phase. As detailed above, the involvement of governmental agencies is essential and applications from new members to EATRIS must therefore be made via governmental partners. The coordination and establishment of these criteria and frameworks will enable Europe to retain a highly competitive position in advanced biomedical research.

Map highlighting the countries currently contributing with governmental and scientific partners in EATRIS during the preparatory phase. Greece is an emerging partner.