iTarget: Institute for Biomolecular Targeting

 描述(由申请人提供)：对生物医学研究的投资已经获得了巨大的回报，其形式是对一系列疾病的突破性治疗。加速这些益处的努力通常假设有一个线性过程，从对基本生物学原理的理解开始，然后推进到治疗开发、评估，并最终进入临床应用。因此，许多计划都集中在发现之后的各个阶段。在这里，我们建议建立一个达特茅斯生物分子靶向研究所(ITarget)，它将为早期的机械性研究注入对翻译可能性的复杂意识。这种方法将确保疾病病理学的知识提供重点和背景，以加强即使是最基础的研究的影响。与此同时，它将针对机械性的调查，朝着增加最终翻译成功的可能性的方向进行。ITarget的结构是(1)加快四名在生物分子靶标识别、验证和抑制方面具有相互关联兴趣的优秀初级教员的研究效率和科学影响力；(2)为经验丰富和尽职尽责的高级教员的指导提供一个支持性框架；(3)开发达特茅斯或我们地区创意合作伙伴所没有的基本共享研究资源，并促进对现有核心的访问；以及(4)向研究所招聘新的教员。在文理学院、盖泽尔医学院和塞耶工程学院10个系的教员参与下，我们的倡议真正是多学科的。达特茅斯大学的合作和高度互动的教职员工在基于好奇心的发现、医疗保健提供和基于人口的结果分析方面拥有突出的优势，该大学在翻译研究方面进行了关键投资。因此，iTarget将受益于与我们的方案合作伙伴互补但不重叠的自然研究协同效应。作为回报，iTarget将扮演一个关键角色，将研究人员聚集在基础和基础之间的界面上 翻译科学。因此，它将刺激跨学科和创新的研究项目，以解决未得到满足的治疗需求。它还将加强区域研究基础设施，为产生蛋白质和其他分子靶向工具以及显示纯化系统和细胞中的分子相互作用提供尖端战略。达特茅斯还为iTarget的成功和长期可持续性做出了重大的制度承诺，包括在整个校园内招聘五名新的终身教职教师。它还将提供项目丰富资金，以支持研究基础设施、科学交流和一个试点项目计划，以培养一个充满活力的智力社区，招募新成员，并提高所有iTarget成员的影响力和资金竞争力。凭借经验丰富的领导、高效的管理结构以及交织机械性和早期翻译研究的新范式的令人信服的愿景，iTarget将培养一大批外部资助的研究人员，从而成为达特茅斯大学一个独立的、国家认可的生物医学研究卓越中心。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Investments in biomedical research have paid large dividends in the form of groundbreaking treatments for a host of diseases. Efforts to accelerate such benefits often assume there is a linear progression that begins with an understanding of basic biological principles, and then advances to therapeutic development, evaluation, and ultimately clinical application. As a result, many initiatives focus on the stages that follow discovery. Here, we propose to establish a Dartmouth Institute for Biomolecular Targeting (iTarget) that will infuse even early-stage mechanistic investigation with a sophisticated awareness of translational possibilities. This approach will ensure that knowledge of disease pathology provides focus and context to enhance the impact of even the most fundamental research. At the same time, it will target mechanistic investigations in directions that increase the probability of ultimate translational success. iTarget is structured (1) to accelerate the research productivity and scientific impact of four exceptional junior faculty members with interrelated interests in biomolecular target identification, validation, and inhibition; (2) to prvide a supportive framework for mentoring by experienced and committed senior faculty; (3) to develop essential shared research resources not available at Dartmouth or our regional IDeA partners and to facilitate access to existing cores; and (4) to recruit new faculty to the Institut. With faculty engagement from 10 departments across the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Geisel School of Medicine, and Thayer School of Engineering, our initiative is truly multidisciplinary. Dartmouth's collegial and highly interactive faculty have outstanding strength in curiosity-based discovery, healthcare delivery and population-based outcomes analysis, and the university has made key investments in translational research. iTarget will thus benefit from natural research synergies that complement, but do not overlap with our programmatic partners. In return, iTarget will fill a critical role, bringing researchers together at the interface between basic and translational sciences. It will thus stimulate interdisciplinary and innovative research projects t address unmet therapeutic needs. It will also enhance the regional research infrastructure, providing cutting-edge strategies for generating proteins and other molecular targeting tools and for visualizing molecular interactions in purified systems and in cells. Dartmouth has also made a substantial institutional commitment to iTarget success and long-term sustainability, including the hiring of five new tenure-track faculty across campus. It will also provide program enrichment funds to support research infrastructure, scientific exchange, and a pilot project program to foster a vibrant intellectual community, recruit new members, and enhance the impact and funding competitiveness of all iTarget members. With experienced leadership, efficient administrative structures, and a compelling vision for a new paradigm that interweaves mechanistic and early- stage translational research, iTarget will develop a critical mass of extramurally funded investigators and thus thrive as a free-standing, nationally recognized Center of Biomedical Research Excellence at Dartmouth.