February 24, 2006

Right and below, MGH investigators discuss their presentations at the annual "Celebration of Science" poster session.

SAC addresses translation of scientific discoveries into clinical medicine

How discoveries made in basic research laboratories are applied to the diagnosis and treatment of disease — the process called translational research — was the theme of this year's annual meeting of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), a group of distinguished investigators from across the country that advises the hospital on its research program. The two-day event got underway Feb. 15 in the new Simches Research Center with the "Celebration of Science" poster session (below) and research symposium. Of the 156 posters presented by MGH investigators, 11 were named posters of distinction.

At the research symposium, David Pauls, PhD, director of the MGH Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, discussed the complex process of searching for genetic contributions to psychiatric disorders. Kenneth Chien, MD, PhD, director of the MGH Cardiovascular Research Center, then outlined the search for progenitor cells that can differentiate into the many types of tissue that make up the heart. In his keynote talk, SAC member Joseph Goldstein, MD, professor and chair of Molecular Genetics at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and a Nobel prize recipient, reviewed the molecular pathways that regulate the cellular production of cholesterol.

The Feb. 16 SAC meeting addressed questions of how academic medical centers like the MGH can best support translational research — specifically what the best organizational structure to encourge such investigations would be and whether or not the MGH should actively promote and direct the development of translational programs. After Alan Ezekowitz, MBChB, DPhil, chair of the MGH Executive Committee on Research, described the challenges posed by the current environment, William Crowley, MD, director of Clinical Research, reviewed different approaches to translational research — from the traditional linear model that starts at the laboratory bench to a cyclical model that begins and ends with patients. Meeting participants also learned about the approaches and accomplishments of the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovation (CIMIT), the MGH Radiology Department and the MGH Cancer Center, followed by a panel discussion among the directors of the new thematic research centers. The afternoon featured an examination of potential changes to the General Clinical Research Centers and finished with SAC members sharing their reactions to the day's events and experiences from their own institutions.

"We are indeed fortunate to have such a distinguished panel of experts, chaired by Ralph Snyderman of Duke University, on the Scientific Advisory Committee," says Ezekowitz. "We received some very important validation from our SAC members, as well as some very wise advice."