Our final goal is to improve clinical practice by development and improvement of diagnosis and treatment of rheumatic diseases.
For this purpose we perform translational rheumatology research: questions from basic research are translated, when necessary and possible via in vivo animal research, to clinical studies. The other way around, questions raised from clinical practice are translated into basic research and results will be confirmed (when necessary and possible via in vivo animal studies) by clinical studies.
Fore more details we refer to our policy plan 2010-2015 (see download below).
Translational research is research that comprehensibly makes the translation from fundamental to clinical research (in a relative short time frame) when relevant via animal in vivo studies, taking into account that the fundamental research questions originate from clinical practice.
This tranlational approach fits well within the UMC Utrecht policy plan "UMC Utrecht 3.0" (see figure below).