Continuum of Biomedical Research
Two descriptions of translational research have been defined by the Institute of Medicine’s Clinical Research Roundtable, which described “translational blocks” in the clinical research enterprise. Some now label these as T1 and T2 1.
The roundtable described T1 as “the transfer of new understandings of disease mechanisms gained in the laboratory into the development of new methods for diagnosis, therapy, and prevention and their first testing in humans”1. The roundtable defined T2 as, “the translation of results from clinical studies into everyday clinical practice and health decision making”1.
1. Woolf, S.H. (2008). The Meaning of Translational Research and Why It Matters. JAMA, 299(2), 211-213.
(Figure adapted from NCRR Strategic Plan 2009-2013.)
