荧光钙离子指示剂在活细胞钙利用研究中的应用

细胞钙的转运和利用及其与某些疾病发生和发展的关系是当前生理功能微观研究中的重点之一。是生命科学和基础医学研究中的前沿课题。应用荧光钙离子指示剂研究单个活细胞中钙的变化是近年兴起的一门新技术,具有广阔的应用前景。本刊特请加拿大McMaster大学教授关超然博士撰写此文并译出,以飨读者。     

美国国家科研资源中心(NCRR)战略计划及对发展我国转化医学的思考

较全面地了解美国国家科研资源中心(NCRR)的宗旨、研究项目及其发展计划,为加强我国与NCRR的合作及在国内开展转化医学研究提出若干建议.通过介绍NCRR的宗旨、资助项目及其在NIH长期蓝图中的地位,结合我国转化医学的进展状况,找出我国与美、英等发达国家在转化医学研究、发展中的差距,本文总结了从事转化医学研究的艺术.我国转化医学研究尚处于起步阶段,与国外发达国家还有较大差距.吸收发达国家转化医学研究与实践的先进成果,转换理念,以整合相关资源等方式促进我国转化医学研究的发展.     

免疫学研究的发展趋势及我国免疫学研究的现状与展望

近十年来,免疫学的发展日新月异,基础免疫学理论研究出现了新的突破,新型免疫学技术不断涌现,同时,免疫学与其他生命科学与医学学科交叉更加广泛和深入,从而极大地推动了免疫学理论与技术在重大临床疾病发病机制研究与预防治疗中的应用.     

生物芯片将给医学带来什么

21世纪是生命科学的世纪,人类基因组计划即将完成,蛋白质组计划已经启动,基因序列数据及蛋白序列数据正在以前所未有的速度增长.然而,怎样去研究如此众多基因及蛋白质在生命过程中所担负的功能就成了全世界生命科学工作者共同的课题,生物芯片正是在这样的背景下应运而生.生物芯片不仅在高通量基因测序、基因表达研究中发挥了重要作用,也将在后基因组时代研究蛋白质及蛋白质间的相互作用方面发挥极其重要的作用,也将在临床基因诊断中占据重要地位.生物芯片技术是生命科学研究中继基因克隆技术、基因自动测序技术、PCR技术后的又一次革命性技术突破.科学界认为,生物芯片技术将给生命科学和医学研究带来一场革命.     

以转化医学理念指导解剖学技术创新

转化性研究(translational research)和转化医学(translational medicine),是国际上医学研究领域新名词.转化医学这个新理念,倡导医学研究与应用,要重视实验室与临床双向转化的模式.1992年,《Science》杂志首次提出"从实验到临床"的B to B(Bench to Bedside)概念[1].1996年,《Lancet》杂志首次出现转化医学这一名词[2].其实在我国,早在上世纪70年代末和80年代初,现代临床应用解剖学方兴未艾之时,就提出基础研究选题来源于临床,研究成果要为临床服务的观点[3].     

2020年国内外免疫学研究重要进展

过去一年中,突如其来的新型冠状病毒肺炎(COVID-19)在全球范围内迅速传播,给人们生活及社会造成巨大影响,也是对生命科学及医学研究的重大挑战.免疫学研究在解析新型冠状病毒与人体免疫系统的互相作用机制方面取得了诸多突破性进展,为揭示COVID-19发病机制、寻找有效治疗方法、设计开发新型疫苗提供了关键证据.与此同时,...     

医药学实验动物学与动物实验设计

实验动物学包括两个范畴,即实验动物学和动物实验.生命科学的发展离不开实验动物学和动物实验.两者均用于探索生命起源规律,人类健康与疾病的发生、发展规律,直接或间接为人类服务.我国实验动物学的研究开展较晚,但近年来发展极快,特别是作为基础研究的实验动物学的迅速发展,给临床应用带来丰硕的成果.     

衰老的表观遗传学

衰老研究是生命科学和医学研究中最重要的领域之一,近年来衰老领域若干研究方面取得了令人鼓舞的进展,其中一个重要方面就是衰老的表观遗传学,本篇综述阐述了这一领域的最新进展,包括表观遗传在细胞和器官衰老中的角色,衰老的表观遗传失调节,几种与衰老相关分子的表观遗传学,如PASG、EZH2、PcG和端粒酶,另外还阐述了衰老过程中的印记异常,以及肾脏衰老的分子事件.     

学科交叉融合新时期——对交叉学科的再思考

20世纪初 ,由于一批物理学家、化学家进入生物学研究领域 ,促使了分子生物学的诞生 .分子生物学的发展成为全世界最瞻目的生命科学的交叉学科 .人类基因组研究在纵深发展 ,2 0 0 2年人类基因组图谱进一步完善 ,2 0 0 3年就会绘成完整的基因图谱 .今后生命科学、生物技术的重点渐向后基因组研究 (基因和蛋白质功能与结构的探索 ) ,进入学科交叉融合的新时期 ,学科的交叉融合成为推动生命科学发展的主要动力之一 .数、理、化、生等大学科交叉研究成为当前自然科学发展的一个主要趋势 .多学科交叉研究必然是推动生命科学发展的主要动力之一 .而…     

试论八十年代的分子生物学仪器

一、前言当代科学技术成就的标志之一是信号的转换测量与信息加工处理技术的高度发展,正是由于这类仪器仪表在生命科学中的应用,促进了现代分子生物学的诞生,而运用先进的测量仪器研究生物大分子的结构与功能必将推动这门学科更快的发展。     

Materializing research promises: opportunities,priorities and conflicts in translational medicine

There is considerable evidence that the translation rate of major basic science promises to clinical applications has been inefficient and disappointing. The deficiencies of translational science have often been proposed as an explanation for this failure. An alternative explanation is that until recently basic science advances have made oversimplified assumptions that have not matched the true etiological complexity of most common diseases; while clinical science has suffered from poor research practices, overt biases and conflicts of interest. The advent of molecular medicine and the recasting of clinical science along the principles of evidence-based medicine provide a better environment where translational research may now materialize its goals. At the same time, priority issues need to be addressed in order to exploit the new opportunities. Translational research should focus on diseases with global impact, if true progress is to be made against human suffering. The health outcomes of interest for translational efforts need to be carefully defined and a balance must be struck between the subjective needs of healthcare consumers and objective health outcomes. Development of more simple, practical and safer interventions may be as important a target for translational research as the development of cures for diseases where no effective interventions are available at all. Moreover, while the role of the industry is catalytic in translating research advances to licensed interventions, academic independence needs to be sustained and strengthened at a global level. Conflicts of interest may stifle translational research efforts internationally. The profit motive is unlikely to be sufficient alone to advance biomedical research towards genuine progress.     

Translational Medicine is developing in China: A new venue for collaboration

Translational Medicine is an emerging area comprising multidisciplinary Research from basic sciences to medical applications well summarized by the Bench-to-Beside concept; this entails close collaboration between clinicians and basic scientists across institutes. We further clarified that Translational Medicine should be regarded as a two-way road: Bench-to-Bedside and Bedside-to-Bench, to complement testing of novel therapeutic strategies in humans with feedback understanding of how they respond to them. It is, therefore, critical and important to define and promote Translational Medicine among clinicians, basic Researchers, biotechnologists, politicians, ethicists, sociologists, investors and coordinate these efforts among different Countries, fostering aspects germane only to this type of Research such as, as recently discussed, biotechnology entrepreneurship. Translational Medicine as an inter-disciplinary science is developing rapidly and widely and, in this article, we will place a special emphasis on China.     

Effective knowledge management in translational medicine

Background  

The growing consensus that most valuable data source for biomedical discoveries is derived from human samples is clearly reflected in the growing number of translational medicine and translational sciences departments across pharma as well as academic and government supported initiatives such as Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) in the US and the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) of EU with emphasis on translating research for human health.     

Improving the health of the community: Duke's experience with community engagement.

Evidence is accumulating that the United States is falling behind in its potential to translate biomedical advances into practical applications for the population. Societal forces, increased awareness of health disparities, and the direction of clinical and translational research are producing a compelling case for AHCs to bridge the gaps between scientific knowledge and medical advancement and between medical advancement and health. The Duke University Health System, the city and county of Durham, North Carolina, and multiple local nonprofit and civic organizations are actively engaged in addressing this need. More than a decade ago, Duke and its community partners began collaborating on projects to meet specific, locally defined community health needs. In 2005, Duke and Durham jointly developed a set of Principles of Community Engagement reflecting the key elements of the partnership and crafted an educational infrastructure to train health professionals in the principles and practice of community engagement. And, most recently, Duke has worked to establish the Duke Translational Medicine Institute, funded in part by a National Institutes of Health Clinical Translational Science Award, to improve health through innovative behavioral, social, and medical knowledge, matched with community engagement and the information sciences.     

A study to examine whether the basic sciences are appropriately organized to meet the future needs of medical education

There is a growing divergence between the content of research activities in the basic sciences and that of the traditional preclinical courses for medical students. A 1977 study at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (Penn) examined the organization of the school's basic sciences, including surveying the research interests and departmental affiliations of 101 basic science faculty at Penn and interviewing the basic science departments chairmen there and at five other research-intensive schools of medicine. The findings demonstrated overlapping interests among basic science investigators, significant blurring of departmental boundaries, and a divergence between the faculty members' research interests and the disciplines represented by the departments in which these faculty held appointments. A second study a decade later documented that this divergence had increased. This paper also addresses the mounting concern among medical educators in response to these kinds of developments, the effect of such developments on medical education, and issues concerning the teaching of basic sciences, course content, the responsibility of schools of medicine for effecting change, and a possible model for basic science instruction.     

Education for medical teamwork in Shinshu University

Both students of health sciences (medical technology, nursing science, physical therapy, and occupational therapy) and medical students learn medical teamwork in the primary stage by joint practice in Shinshu University. The aim of this class is for students that will become medical staff to increase their necessary communication skills for medical teamwork in addition to understanding the mutual medical professional fields in a medical institution. The 242 students of the medical department (147 students of health sciences and 95 students of medicine) take 15 classes during their first term as freshers. One teacher takes charge of a group consisting of 14 students for tutorials by mutually cooperation between teachers of medicine and health sciences. Positive relationships are expected to develop in the group, raising sociality and ethics so that both students of health science and medicine experience interdisciplinary discussion in small groups as an ideal method for continuing health care in times of poor knowledge of medicine and health care.     

Opportunities and challenges of disease biomarkers: a new section in the journal of translational medicine

A new section of the Journal of Translational Medicine is being introduced to encourage rapid communication of methods and results that utilize computational modeling and epidemiologic approaches in translational medicine. The focus will be on population-based studies that extend towards more molecular level analysis. Submission of studies involving methods development is encouraged where actual application and results can be shown in the healthcare and life sciences domains.     

New section in journal of translational medicine: patient-targeted molecular therapies

ABSTRACT: This Editorial announces a new section in the Journal of Translational Medicine: Patient-Targeted Molecular Therapies. This section is dedicated to the dissemination of targeted molecular therapies in context of patient centered outcomes research and evidence-based clinical decisions. The focus on patient-targeted molecular therapies - spanning small molecules and biomolecules alike - stems from the unprecedented growth in this arena. This is consonant with the overall objective of the Journal of Translational Medicine, which seeks out to expand firmly to other vast areas of medicine in the domain of translational science, viewed here as the transaction between translational research and translational effectiveness. As we inaugurate this new section in Journal of Translational Medicine, with its mission described in detail in this Editorial, we invite interested scientists to submit their work for publication.     

An interdisciplinary course in the basic sciences for senior medical and PhD students.

Integrating clinical and basic sciences throughout the medical school curriculum has become a major objective of various innovations in medical education. While early clinical exposure has evolved as an efficient means of introducing clinical studies in the preclinical years, interdisciplinary integration of basic sciences during the clinical years remains a challenge. The authors describe their three years of experience with an interdisciplinary course designed to demonstrate the continuum of medical information from the clinic to the basic sciences. In this course, sixth-year medical students are required to choose one of three to four different one-week programs, each of which requires them to conduct an in-depth investigation of a defined clinical topic. Program coordinators are encouraged to work in clinician-basic scientist teams and to use a variety of teaching methods, with an emphasis on tutored individual and group learning based on critical readings of original papers. Coordinators are also encouraged to enable graduate research students to participate. From 1998 to 2000, students participated in nine programs, seven of which were coordinated by interdisciplinary teams. Several clinical and basic science disciplines were represented in each program, and various teaching methods were used. Graduate students participated in two of the programs. Evaluation of the programs (a debriefing discussion as well as short written evaluations) indicated moderate to good achievement of the course objectives.     

A survey of medical school teachers to identify basic biomedical concepts medical students should understand

Insights from the cognitive sciences indicate a continuing need for physicians to understand conceptual knowledge from the basic sciences, despite recent concerns regarding the increasing amount of information in medicine and the growing emphasis on performance skills. A 1987 survey of selected basic science and clinical teachers in North American medical schools was undertaken to identify basic biomedical concepts that are important in the practice of medicine and to specify how difficult these are for students to learn, apply, or both. Responses from faculty (nominated by their deans to answer the survey) from 82% of the medical schools indicated considerable agreement between the basic science teachers and clinical teachers on the relative importance of a set of biomedical concepts, and showed relatively minor levels of disagreement on how difficult these concepts are. The judgments of these teachers could prove extremely useful in (1) determining concepts that--because of their importance--should receive special attention in curriculum efforts, and (2) determining concepts that--because of their difficulty--need "special handling."