FYI Research:
NIH seeks to speed use of new research

Medical research discoveries sometimes follow a slow path from the lab bench to the bedside. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) would like to change that.

The NIH Roadmap for Medical Research is a nationwide strategy to accelerate the progress of medical exploration by identifying the most pressing problems facing medical research today, including knowledge gaps and other roadblocks that are too big for any single NIH institute to confront alone. The roadmap will also unite researchers and institutions all across the nation to transform scientific knowledge into tangible benefits for people.

"We have made remarkable progress in medical research in recent decades, and NIH-led research has changed the landscape of many diseases," said NIH Director Elias Zerhouni. "However, very real -- and very urgent -- needs remain. NIH is now drawing all fields of science together in a concerted effort to meet these challenges head-on."

The roadmap identifies three main themes of research. The theme "new pathways of discovery" attempts to understand complex biological systems and learn more about the combination of molecular events that lead to health or disease. The focus is on molecular libraries and imaging, bioinformatics, nanomedicine and other high-tech approaches.

The second theme, "research teams of the future," seeks to encourage scientists to break down the barriers between their disciplines and to combine their skills in pursuit of answers to some of biomedicine's biggest questions. "We need to find even more innovative and effective ways of doing biomedical research and converting that into cures," said Lawrence Tabak, director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.

With the third theme, "re-engineering clinical research," NIH hopes to make it easier to transform basic clinical research into diagnostics, drugs, treatments or prevention methods. NIH is stressing new partnerships among organized patient communities, community-based physicians and academic researchers as a starting point for revamping the way clinical research is carried out.

Carolina wants to be ready to get in on the action, said Rudy Juliano, professor of pharmacology and chair of the NIH Roadmap Executive Committee on campus. "We already have many very talented interdisciplinary groups and investigators who are working together very effectively," Juliano said. "But we can identify other nascent areas where we can match up with the roadmap plans and get folks talking to each other."

"In the future, I think this is the way science in general will be going," Juliano said. "You're going to see more emphasis on collaboration, more emphasis on `big' science."

Juliano's committee will steer Carolina's efforts to create research teams and partnerships, to share information and to coordinate the development of roadmap proposals. And much like researchers will be expected to do, offices within Research and Economic Development will team with the College of Arts & Sciences and the schools of medicine, dentistry and public health to help coordinate Carolina's Roadmap response.

"In my view, this new campuswide effort, drawing on our established strengths, will ensure that Carolina is well-positioned for leadership in the next generation of biomedical research," said Tony Waldrop, vice chancellor for research and economic development.

Provided by Research and Economic Development.
Editor: Neil Caudle. Writer: Jason Smith.

Technology transfer update

The Office of Technology Development helps Carolina faculty, students and staff develop and commercialize patentable inventions resulting from their research. In May, the University executed two license agreements and had two U.S. patent issued.

A patent is a legal document granting inventors the exclusive right to prevent others from making, using or selling an invention for a number of years. A license agreement is a written contract granting permission for a person or company to use an invention under certain terms. For more information about OTD, go to research.unc.edu/otd.