Translational medical research: present and future.

Translational research incorporates some of the oldest knowledge that the human race has gathered, from healing practices of ancient civilizations to the development of modern medicine. Today’s translational research is generally defined as the investigation that transforms scientific discoveries arising in the laboratory, clinic, or population into new clinical tools and applications that reduce disease incidence, morbidity and mortality. Recent progress in mapping the human genome, as well as other technologies, has rapidly accelerated advances in both research and clinical applications. We have made much progress in exploring and understanding the entire genome sequence, gene expression variants, epigenomics, and the proteome of a given organism. Nevertheless, integrating the biological activities of particular genes and proteins with this newly gained knowledge continues to be a great challenge. We strive to know not only how a single stimulus affects an organism at the molecular, cellular, and organismal level, but also how distinct individuals respond differently to the same stimulus. The origin of these stimuli can be intrinsic as well as extrinsic, and often invokes a cascade of reactions in an organism. Thus, the complexity of the biological system is enormous. However, we must be able to fully address all these exciting questions, so as to develop new approaches for dealing with human disease.