Efficient translation of research discoveries into clinical application is essential to improve human health and maintain Europe's competitiveness in biomedical research and in health industry. A major bottleneck is the lack and the fragmented nature of research infrastructure and know-how, leading to unacceptable delays or preventing of the development of new innovative medicines. The aim of EATRIS, European Advanced Translational Research InfraStructure in Medicine, is to fill this gap by developing a pan-European research infrastructure.

Basic biomedical research in Europe has traditionally been strong. If one compares the research budgets for biomedical research in the US to the EU, the output in publications and the citation index of European scientists is more than competitive. However, Europe lacks behind when it comes to bringing innovation into clinical practice.
EATRIS aims to improve the "translation" of research to new applications by giving researchers across Europe access to state-of-the-art facilities, training and supporting services to optimize the clinical outputs of both basic and clinical research. This initiative is one of the biomedical infrastructures identified on the roadmap of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructure (ESFRI) and is currently funded by the 7^th Framework Program of the European Commission.

Building on Excellence

EATRIS will operate through a pan-European network of leading biomedical translational research centers. Currently ten countries are partner in the EATRIS consortium (fig. 1). By gathering translational excellence and know-how across Europe the innovative momentum in Europe will be reinforced. At the same time a critical mass of state-of-the-art research facilities and experienced staff will be achieved.
The EATRIS Translational Centers build the core of the infrastructure. Each centre will be capable of handling the entire development chain for diagnostic, therapeutic or preventive products up to a first proof of concept in human (fig. 2). All necessary disciplines are close together as a strong innovation core, and will be complemented with state-of-the-art facilities and patient cohorts from hospitals (fig.

3). The centers will specialize according to their core expertise in applications such as diagnostics, small molecule drugs, biologics, vaccines or advanced therapy medicinal products like cell therapies.

The Scope of EATRIS Infrastructure

The initial disease fields destined are the most pressing ones: cancer, infection, cardiovascular, metabolic and neurological diseases. The goal is to take up discoveries for which a proof of principle is established and develop them to a stage where a proof of concept in human subjects (clinical phase IIa) can be demonstrated. This infrastructure will consist of a number of physical components, including:

• State-of-the-art animal facilities for preclinical proof of principle and proof of concept studies
• Small molecule screening facilities to identify and characterize new drug targets
• Compound libraries
• High-resolution imaging facilities for preclinical and clinical validation
• Cyclotrons to produce tracers
• Disease-specific patient and population cohorts to develop and validate new innovative diagnostic and therapeutic strategies
• Centralized GMP facilities for bioprocess development and manufacturing
• Facilities for Clinical Phase I studies.

Further services for European scientists will be offered by providing expert knowledge in fields such as regulatory issues and product development as well as professional project management.
EATRIS will also contribute to the training and education of the next generation of translation researchers by creating true multidisciplinary research environments and by providing training programs for scientists as well as technicians and nurses.
What is more: The supply of research support will be harmonized and facilities for research will be largely complementary. A central management will take care of quality management and technology transfer and will serve as an entrance portal for external scientists (fig. 4).

Opening the Doors to Europe

EATRIS will use the unique approach of opening the doors of its comprehensive translation centers to provide access for external users with promising discoveries. The users of the infrastructure will be mainly basic biomedical researchers and clinical scientists located at universities and research institutions. The aim is to drive innovative discoveries from academia further along the developmental path following high quality standards. Thus, EATRIS will "de-risk targets" for the industry as they can take up already advanced drug candidates. In addition access to academic know-how and specialized research facilities across Europe will be offered to industrial partners like SMEs or even big pharma.