New initiatives of UB’s Clinical and Translational Science Award

The recently announced National Institutes of Health (NIH) award to the University at Buffalo ensures that Western New Yorkers will continue to benefit from innovative research discoveries. Central to the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) to UB’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) are a series of new initiatives designed to improve health outcomes locally and beyond.

CTSI Director Timothy F. Murphy, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor, says that given the speed of science advancements, it is important for the CTSI to stay on the cutting edge of research by trying new and innovative things. 

“We do not want to just repeat our efforts,” Murphy explains. “We want to look carefully at what we have done, see what we want to change, and determine how to really advance our work.”

Emphasis on translational science

Paramount to research that improves health and healthcare, Murphy says, is an emphasis on translational science, which is defined by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) as “the field that generates innovations that overcome longstanding bottlenecks and roadblocks to accelerate progress along the translational research pipeline. These include scientific, operational, financial, and administrative innovations that transform the way that research is done.”

“Almost all our researchers, whether they know it or not, have done translational science when they do their clinical research,” Murphy says. “If you are going to be successful at doing translational research, you must overcome the inevitable problems, hurdles, and barriers along the way. Our researchers have used trial and error to accomplish the important things that they have done.”

Based on guidance from NCATS, Murphy says the goal is to bring “scientific rigor into the trial and error method,” and to learn new ways to overcome barriers and shorten the translational pipeline to benefit the community.

“The whole concept of emphasizing translational science is not new, but it is a new emphasis that we want to prioritize,” Murphy states. 

Projects supported by the grant

The seven-year CTSA grant will result in new projects and initiatives, including:

• Dissemination and Implementation Science Core. To move research results into real-world settings, the CTSI launched its Dissemination and Implementation Science Core in January. “The whole concept of dissemination and implementation is about moving our research advances into our communities to their benefit,” Murphy explains. The new core provides infrastructure, training, and consultation to research teams, in collaboration with community partners and other CTSA hubs.
• Connecting Community Health Workers with researchers and research projects. “Our research will have a greater impact if we can engage our communities,” Murphy says. “Community Health Workers are our community members who are trained to participate in and guide the research including what questions we should be investigating and asking. Advancing the role of these individuals helps us ensure that we have these meaningful, bidirectional community partnerships.” The CTSA grant will support the development of a curriculum and training of Community Health Workers in clinical research, in partnership with the Community Health Worker Network of Buffalo.
• Growing the CTSI’s partnership with UB’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science (IAD). “Artificial intelligence, or AI, is changing medicine, healthcare, and science,” Murphy says. “It is going to change how we do our science, and in better ways.” However, Murphy adds, there are also risks involved such as built-in biases and potential errors. “UB has world-class experts in AI, and this is a true active partnership between the CTSI and the IAD. We can take advantage of the power of AI and we can be very vigilant about the risks.” 
• Working with researchers to develop innovative clinical trial designs. “There are more clever and efficient ways to do clinical trials,” Murphy says, identifying virtual clinical trials as one example. “We will invite researchers to bring their new ideas, and as a result, everyone will benefit from this intervention.”
• CTSI Leadership and Diversity and Mentoring Program. “We want to train the next generation of leaders — carefully, in a way that does not overburden them or take away from their own research — because they are going to advance in their careers by being successful in their own research,” Murphy says. “These new leaders will be given the opportunity to review pilot studies and attend CTSI Steering Committee meetings, and we will also individualize their leadership training.”
• Developing new ontologies. UB is known as a world-class center in ontology, the study of organizing and categorizing knowledge to enable greater mutual understanding. “We are going to create ontologies around the words ‘clinical and translational science impact’ — defining it, figuring out what does and does not work — and ‘social determinants of health.’” In addition, the CTSI is taking a leadership role by creating an ontology consortium of seven CTSA hubs.

“The best clinical and translational research goes hand in hand with the best health”

Murphy stresses that the CTSI’s new and continuing projects are aligned with its goals to advance and accelerate research discoveries to improve health for all.

“I always say that the best clinical and translational research goes hand in hand with the best health,” Murphy says. “These new and innovative efforts are going to advance our research and, ultimately, advance healthcare in Western New York and improve the health of everyone in our population. We are working to raise the level of health and the quality of life in the area.”

Watch for more news and updates on UB’s CTSA grant (award number UM1TR005296) on the CTSI website and Translational Spotlight newsletter.