NIH has awarded more than $79 million to support 15 Institutional Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA). Led by the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), the CTSA program broadly develops, demonstrates, and disseminates health interventions. The program works with key partners including NIH institutes and centers, patient groups, communities, healthcare providers, industry, and regulatory organizations.
NIH has renewed the CTSA award with the Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI) for $29 million over the next five years to support innovative research in genomics, wireless technology, and bioinformatics research directed towards individualizing medicine.
The renewal affirms the importance of the work done by STSI scientists over the past five years. For example, a pilot study in the area of pharmacogenomics conducted by STSI enabled Scripps Health to become the first health system in the U.S. to routinely test patients undergoing a heart stent procedure for their genetic compatibility with the commonly prescribed blood thinner Plavix.
STSI’s Wellderly Study has enrolled more than 1,350 people who are 80 years of age or older in a scientific search for the genetic secrets of healthy and long lives. The whole-genome sequences of 1,000 of the study’s participants will serve as a reference database for other research into late-onset diseases linked to inherited genes. Data from this study is due to be released soon.
Also, heart attack patients from throughout the San Diego area are being studied in an effort to develop a test that will predict a heart attack before it happens by detecting genomic signals from unusual cells circulating in the blood stream.
STSI researchers through the years, have developed advanced tools for analyzing DNS sequencing data. The Center also serves as training ground for talented young physicians that have been recruited from across the country.
In the future, STSI scientists will use the center’s genetic sequencing and analysis expertise to enhance drug discovery efforts, reveal the mechanisms underlying drug resistance, and unravel some of the mysteries of autoimmune disorders.
Lastly, with more than 150 companies in the San Diego area working on wireless health applications and devices, STSI has emerged as a center for the rigorous clinical testing that is necessary to prove the effectiveness and value of emerging digital medicine technology.
For more information, go to www.scripps.edu.