Medicine today experiences a gap between basic research and successful clinical translation that delays establishment of urgently needed therapies. This is very clearly so in blinding retinal degenerations where most are yet untreatable, even with a wealth of basic and pre-clinical research data available. To address this problem, transMed proposes an innovative programme to educate “translational researchers” that focuses on the bench-to-bedside development of treatments.The transMed project is supported with 3.3 Mio € of EU-funding and joins four academic groups with 10 industrial partners with intersectoral collaborations already ongoing.

Each transMed partner will contribute specific critical expertise to a curriculum covering all major aspects of translational research: From basic research to pharmaceutical development to clinical trials to successful commercialisation of new drugs. The project is coordinated by Prof. François Paquet-Durand at the Tübingen University Institute for Ophthalmic research. Altogether, during its four-year project duration, transMed will offer its students the opportunity to obtain a competitive PhD degree in several critical areas of biomedical research, providing for a strong employability in both the private and public sector.

More information on the website http://www.transmed-itn.eu