Animal models in today's translational medicine world

Abstract

Translational medicine drives progress of research along the continuum from basic biomedical research findings into clinical practice. Animal models play a central role in the above continuum. The recent explosion in molecular biology and generation of human physiological system in animals has led to an increasing use of in vivo animal models in today's translational medicine.

Figure 1

The first stage of translational research (T1) is often carried out using animal models, cell cultures, or other experimental systems. Clinical research in the figure encompasses human subject research studies that involve direct interaction between investigators and human participants. The second translational process (T2) takes results from studies in humans and applies them in clinical practice with the ultimate goal of improving community health.

Figure 2

Model for translational research, as proposed by the Evaluation Committee of the Association for Clinical Research Training (Adopted from reference 4)