The concept of translational research has slowly been gaining currency in the last years, and a number of programmes and institutions are being set up under this banner. As translational research evolves in the contest field of biomedicine, at the centre of negotiations between biology and medicine, commerce and public health, it becomes imperative to understand how new forms of innovation policy and governance are functioning within this shifting configuration. 

The project will seek to:

1. define and map the discourses and practices of translational research, through a review of the state of the art and the origins of the concept, and a survey of current activities in Austria, Finland and Germany;
2. study the modalities of evidence generation in genomic testing interventions as translational practices;
3. study genetic counselling as a case for the potential involvement of patients afford by translational efforts;
4. analyse emerging forms of innovation policy and governance processes pertaining to translational research;
5. submit the results for discussion, through a workshop putting together the research team with external experts.    

Status:
ongoing (2/2010 – 1/2013)

Auftraggeber:
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF); funded within the "ELSA-GEN" Initiative: Multinational call for collaborative research projects on "ethical, legal, socio-cultural and economic aspects of genomics and related sciences", http://www.elsagen.at  

Partner:

• D. Soc.Sc. Ari Haukkala, University of Helsinki; Department of Social Psychology, Finland  
• Dr. Peter Biegelbauer, Institute for Advanced Studies, Austria  
• Prof. Dr. med. Jörg Schmidtke, Hannover Medical School; Institute for Human Genetics, Germany  
• Univ.-Prof. Dr. Uwe Siebert, University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology; Institute for Public Health, Medical Decision Making and HTA, Austria

Website:

http://trigen.isi-projekt.de