TRM6002 - Translational research - 2017

Translational research is a growing and exciting new discipline in medicine that deals with the development of fundamental scientific findings into tangible clinical outcomes. Translational researchers are involved in identifying a worthwhile scientific finding that can be applied to a clinical setting. Along this research and development pipeline are a series of critical check-points that provide the investigator vital tools to generate a valuable result that has merit for translation. This unit will establish a fundamental knowledge in the processes involved in developing a basic science finding through to clinical studies. The unit provides workshop-based learning in the development of discipline-specific laboratory research questions and how they are applied to broader clinical applications. The main focus of this unit is to identify how fundamental scientific questions may have multidisciplinary clinical answers. Other core learning outcomes are through understanding how scientific concepts can be marketed and communicated effectively through research pipeline procedures and the responsibilities of the researcher that may be derived from this.

Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Formulate a research plan that incorporates the use of platform technologies, animal husbandry and genetic modifications to deliver therapeutic outcomes.
2. Critically evaluate benefits and drawbacks of different pathways to commercialization
3. Determine and recommend suitable stakeholders at critical time points along the commercialization pathway based on core stakeholder capabilities
4. Develop criteria for good laboratory practice (GLP) and good manufacturing practice (GMP) in a scale-up process of a bioproduct
5. Develop the drug candidate testing regime for high throughput screening and tolerability / toxicity studies
6. Outline the key criteria for assessing promising drug candidates during the discovery process and discuss these using recently developed pharmaceutical examples
7. Develop communication plan of the research findings to a non-scientific audience

• Essay 1: intellectual property & commercialisation (1,500 words) (25%)
• Essay 2: bioprocessing/Bioinformatics/biobanking/Bioimaging/phenomics (1,500 words) (25%)
• Media release - executive summary (500 words) (10%)
• Online self-directed learning task (40%)

On-campus: Approximately 60 contact hours either face-to-face workshops or online modules. The remaining 84 hours (7hrs per week over a 12 week period) is made up of private study time completing online exercises, 3 major assignments and an end of semester online test.

See also Unit timetable information

Dr Steven Petratos

Translational research