The overall aim of the Research Translation Support Office is to provide researchers with the mix of competences (drug / diagnostic development, regulatory, pre-clinical and clinical development, IPR) needed to support rigorous translational research, to secure follow-on funding and to find partners for the development of new treatments and diagnostics for rare diseases.

The Research Translation Support office will support the RD community to more effectively translate high quality research into high impact interventions for the RD patient community, by creating a bridge between basic research and medical innovation, otherwise known as the “bench to bedside” approach.

The specific objectives are:

● Empower researchers to conduct rigorous translational research by providing self-help resources and active project mentoring and technical support;

● Improve the uptake of successful research projects towards clinical implementation with active exploitation and follow-on funding support; and

● Improve efficiency and outcomes of translational research, and develop novel funding concepts to reduce the ‘valley of death’ funding gap.