The Prevalence of Dissemination and Implementation Research and Training Grants at National Cancer Institute-Designated Cancer Centers.

Background: Dissemination and implementation (D&I) research is a key factor in the uptake and use of evidence-based cancer control interventions. National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer centers are ideal settings in which to further D&I knowledge. The purpose of this study was to summarize the characteristics of NCI-funded D&I science grants in the nation's cancer centers to understand the nature, extent, and opportunity for this key type of translational work. Methods: We used the National Institutes of Health Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool to identify active NCI-funded grants in D&I science at NCI clinical cancer centers (n = 13) and comprehensive cancer centers (n = 51) as well as their academic affiliates. Active projects were eligible for inclusion if they 1) were awarded directly to an NCI cancer center or an academic or research affiliate, and 2) identified D&I content in the abstract. Portfolio data were collected in February 2021. Results: We identified 104 active NCI-funded D&I research or training grants across the 64 cancer centers; 57.8% of cancer centers had at least 1 NCI-funded D&I grant. Most awards (71.1%) were for research grants. Training grants constituted 29.1% of D&I-focused grants. Overall, 50.0% of grants (n = 52) concentrated on specific cancers. Almost two-thirds of grants (n = 68, 65.4%) had a stated health equity focus. Conclusions: More than one-half of NCI-designated cancer centers have active funding in D&I science, reflecting a substantial investment by NCI. There remains considerable room for further development, which would further support NCI's translational mission.

Bugs as Cancer Drugs: Challenges and Opportunities.

The first nonsurgical cancer therapy was bacterial therapy introduced in 1891 to treat solid tumors. Because in many cases it was harmful and ineffective, and with the emergence of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, bacterial therapy was discontinued. Motivated by the need to improve targeting of solid tumors and in light of recent progress made in developing microbial therapies, the National Cancer Institute has for the first time issued funding opportunities to stimulate research on bacterium-based cancer therapies for conditions under which current cancer therapies are inadequate.

Emerging nanomedicine applications and manufacturing: progress and challenges.

APS 6th International PharmSci Conference 2015 7-9 September 2015 East Midlands Conference Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK As part of the 6th APS International PharmSci Conference, a nanomedicine session was organised to address challenges and share experiences in this field. Topics ranged from the reporting on latest results and advances in the development of targeted therapeutics to the needs that the community faces in how to progress these exciting proof of concept results into products. Here we provide an overview of the discussion and highlight some of the initiatives that have recently been established to support the translation of nanomedicines into the clinic.

Future translational applications from the contemporary genomics era: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association.

The field of genetics and genomics has advanced considerably with the achievement of recent milestones encompassing the identification of many loci for cardiovascular disease and variable drug responses. Despite this achievement, a gap exists in the understanding and advancement to meaningful translation that directly affects disease prevention and clinical care. The purpose of this scientific statement is to address the gap between genetic discoveries and their practical application to cardiovascular clinical care. In brief, this scientific statement assesses the current timeline for effective translation of basic discoveries to clinical advances, highlighting past successes. Current discoveries in the area of genetics and genomics are covered next, followed by future expectations, tools, and competencies for achieving the goal of improving clinical care.

Contributing towards the betterment of translational epilepsy research in Africa: needs, challenges, resources, and opportunities.

Epilepsy affects approximately 50 million people worldwide. Among them, at least 40 million people are currently living in the developing world, where resources and standards of care are suboptimal. Around 90 % of people with epilepsy in resource-poor countries do not currently receive appropriate treatments, at a time when two thirds of these patients could have achieved good control of their epileptic seizures had they had access to appropriate therapies. Scarcity of epilepsy specialists, poor availability or access to diagnostic facilities and treatments, poor community knowledge about epilepsy-related issues, stigma, and other societal and cultural barriers are only some of the issues contributing to this deficiency. These issues in epilepsy treatment have been well recognized, and ongoing concerted efforts to address them have been undertaken by both local authorities and international organizations. In many cases, patients resort to the use of traditional local and alternative medicines (herbs, religious practices, etc.) that are closer to indigenous cosmovision, are more holistic, and are more culture-friendly, preserving an optimum subtlety of Afrocentric character shading. Compared with imported Western medicines, patients find these approaches to be more relevant to their ways of thinking, their ways of being, and their belief systems, more accessible, and more acceptable methods of dealing with health and disease states. The impressive local wealth in these natural resources has established them as a preferred source of healing in these regions, but has also fueled interest in exploring their therapeutic potential in the very few existing local research centers. In this review, we discuss the known issues related to the epilepsy treatment gap in resource-poor regions, focusing in particular on African countries, introduce the role and issues related to the use and validation of alternative medical therapies in epilepsy, and comment on the importance and repercussions of initiatives to validate such therapies, primarily for local practices, but also for possible wider international applications.

High throughput screening operations at the University of Kansas.

The High Throughput Screening Laboratory at University of Kansas plays a critical role in advancing academic interest in the identification of chemical probes as tools to better understand the biological and biochemical basis of new therapeutic targets. The HTS laboratory has an open service policy and collaborates with internal and external academia as well as for-profit organizations to execute projects requiring HTS-compatible assay development and screening of chemical libraries for target validation, probe selection, hit identification and lead optimization.

[Strategy and core technologies for the secondary development of Chinese patent medicine].

Secondary development of Chinese Patent Medicine (CPM) is an effective and innovation-driven way for the leaping development of Chinese medicine industry with less investment and faster return. Aim to improving the efficacy, safety and batch-to-batch consistency of CPMs, the theory and methodology for the secondary development of CPMs, mode for cultivating superior CPM, approaches to reforming the pharmaceutical technology and the corresponding core technologies were proposed in this paper, which is summarized as 'One objective, Three analyses, Five definitudes and Seven improvements'.

The international translational regenerative medicine center.

The International Translational Regenerative Medicine Center, an organizing sponsor of the World Stem Cell Summit 2012, is a global initiative established in 2011 by founding partners Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm, Sweden) and Beckman Research Institute at City of Hope (CA, USA) with a mission to facilitate the acceleration of translational research and medicine on a global scale. Karolinska Institutet, home of the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology, is one of the most prestigious medical research institutions in the world. The Beckman Research Institute/City of Hope is ranked among the leading NIH-designated comprehensive cancer research and treatment institutions in the USA, has the largest academic GMP facility and advanced drug discovery capability, and is a pioneer in diabetes research and treatment.