Lost in translation: barriers and progress in harnessing basic medical science into community practice in Indonesia
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(2020) 5:16
COMMENTARY
Translational Medicine Communications
Open Access
Lost in translation: barriers and progress in harnessing basic medical science into community practice in Indonesia Ajib Diptyanusa1*
and Mubasysyir Hasanbasri2
Abstract Translational research carries over fundamental laboratory research findings into clinical and community settings in order to ‘translate’ the findings into practice. In addition to its potential in accelerating the time of basic discoveries to be delivered into the population, translational studies also provide opportunities for interdisciplinary collaborations in identifying knowledge gaps. However, several issues hindering the advancement of translational research studies have risen in developing countries, such as limited funding, insufficient research evaluation and recognition, absence of government model or consortium, and insufficient communication among researchers and stakeholders. While the original concept of the ‘bench to bedside’ has been known for years, the practice of bilateral flow from bench to bedside, and back to the bench was found lacking. Lack of interactions and involvement of the clinicians, community and resources further deplete translational ability of the research itself. Without understanding the priorities and the environment in which the decision makers work, specific research aims needed by the communities may be failed to be formulated and may result in devaluation of research by formulating similar key questions repetitively. The current commentary aimed to highlight the importance of connecting population health systems, basic demands, and academic institutions, to own the issues, to address the issues, and to translate research findings. Keywords: Translational research, Barriers, Progress, Community needs, Indonesia In the context of medical science, growing interest in basic medical research aims to achieve major medical advances, including creating new drug discoveries, diagnostic tools, as well as disease modeling. The term ‘translational research’ carries over these fundamental laboratory research findings into clinical and community settings through another research effort in order to ‘translate’ the findings into practice, resulting in substantial health outcomes. In recent years, scientists have been exploring more translational research works, possibly through clinical trials and modeling in several fields, one of which being infectious disease. One of the * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
major drives being the political push from both research funders and the government to focus on the translational research prospective of the researchers’ current work. In addition to its potential in accelerating the time of basic discoveries to be delivered into clinical and community settings, translational studies also pro
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