Translational medicine assumes a far greater relevance in India going by the  urgency to provide treatment options to a growing patient population requiring healthcare at affordable costs, stated experts at a seminar titled ‘Translational Medicine research: The Need of the Hour in India’.

The seminar,  organized by Maastricht Education and Research Centre, India which is subsidiary of Maastricht University, Netherlands was attended by Prof M S Valiathan, former director, Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences, Prof M R S Rao, director, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Studies, Bangalore and Prof Satish Chandra, director and Vice Chancellor, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) who deliberated on the need for Translational medicine to help solve health problems.

For translational medicine to be productive and offer solutions in healthcare, what is most vitally needed is a joint working culture among biomedical scientists, technologists and industry, stated   Prof Valiathan.

Quoting the efforts of Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology which is a  200-bed cardiac and neurological diseases hospital in Kerala,  funded by the Government of India, he said that the  integrative efforts of basic scientists and bio medical technologists with the  industry allowed the  development of implants and disposables for medical applications. “Our  Special Centre for Health Sciences Studies  has in the last one decade developed  low cost medical products including  blood bags, oxygenator, tilting disc heart valve, vascular graft among others which has provided affordable healthcare,“ he added.

 At the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore researchers have made considerable advancements in translational medicine. Extensive studies on  infectious diseases, cancer genomics, stem cells,  transcription regulation, molecular basis of human genetic disorders helped to understand  the  approaches in  therapy and prevention, stated  Prof M R S Rao.

According to Prof P Satish Chandra, brain research, especially the programmes which are concerned with the basic understanding of the mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases, cognition as well as the genetic basis of several neurological diseases, has  provided insights required for intervention.  “NIMHANS is setting up an advanced t Neurobiology Centre for research on its campus which will provide a platform for rapid and comprehensive translational research on a variety of neurological, psychiatric and clinical problems,” he added.