UC Davis Clinical and Translational Science Center

The UC Davis Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC) was established in October 2006 with a $24.8 million Clinical and Translational Science Award from the NIH. The CTSC, one of 12 NIH-supported Centers nationally, is focused on enhancing the study of human health and disease, and bringing new treatments more rapidly to patients and communities (www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/ctsc/). The CTSC, physically housed in a specially renovated, 16,000 sq. ft. facility on the Sacramento campus, draws talent and leadership from departments and divisions across the Davis and Sacramento campuses as well as community and institutional partners in the region. The CTSC is an academic home for innovative and collaborative research across the UC Davis campus, and a part of a national consortium bridging basic, clinical, and translational research using a transformative approach. The consortium is designed to (1) encourage the development of new methods and techniques to enhance clinical and translational research, (2) improve training and mentoring to ensure that new investigators are educated in the conduct of clinical and translational research, (3) enhance the ability of investigators to navigate the increasingly complex research system, (4) design new and improved clinical research informatics tools, (5) assemble multidisciplinary research teams that cover the spectrum of clinical and translational research, and (6) forge new partnerships with private and public entities that will help transform the clinical enterprise. A key feature of the UC Davis CTSC is an education program focused on "team science" and an extensive collaborative culture across UC Davis schools, colleges, and centers. The UC Davis CTSC has implemented several programs to enhance communication, encourage sharing, facilitate research, and train multidisciplinary teams that will conduct clinical and translational research in the future. Key programs in the CTSC include the following: Translational Technologies, Resources, and Methodologies (which includes funding for pilot and collaborative studies); Biomedical Informatics; Design, Biostatistics, and Clinical Research Ethics; Regulatory Support; the Clinical Research Center; Community Engagement; and Research Education, Training, and Career Development. Through these programs the UC Davis CTSC will transform research into new collaborative scientific discoveries that will bring new diagnostic techniques and therapies into medical practice, and help to solve complex medical problems.

Translational Technologies, Resources, and Methodologies
These programs combine to provide infrastructure support for the conduct of translational research and promote fruitful collaborations between groups to bring successful discoveries into practice. The goal is to foster collaborative research by identifying translational research groups and projects and eliminating barriers that exist among disciplines and investigators. This is accomplished through pilot funding and stipends for collaborative research proposals, experienced facilitators, multidisciplinary conferences, and informatics resources to facilitate data sharing.

Research Education, Training and Career Development
The goal of this program is to create a cadre of multidisciplinary clinical and translational researchers through effective research education, training, and career development. Trainees and junior faculty acquire state-of-the-art multidisciplinary skills in clinical and translational research through three training mechanisms: an enhanced K30 Mentored Clinical Research Training Program for junior faculty; a K12 Mentored Career Development Program for junior faculty; and an innovative T32 pre-doctoral program in “team science” for medical and graduate students. These training programs are also highly integrated with two other UC Davis training programs in translational research: the NIH-funded Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) program; and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute-funded Integrating Medicine into Basic Science Program.

Community Engagement
The Center places particular emphasis on ensuring active participation of the community to help reduce health disparities in clinical research, and uses the resources of the CTSC Clinical Research Center (CCRC) for the conduct of collaborative research studies. The Research and Education Community Advisory Board (RECAB) reviews our active studies and advertisements and provides community input for future studies.

Services for Investigators
The CTSC provides key services to investigators and staff to facilitate clinical and translational research to meet the mission and goals of the Center. These programs are described below.

Biomedical Informatics
The main goal of this program is to develop strategies to manage clinical and translational research data. Programmers are available to assist investigators with database design and management (e.g., Velos), data sharing and security, electronic data capture, Web site support, and digital communication.

Clinical Research Center
The CCRC, located at the VA Northern California Health Care System (VANCHCS), is an 8,000 square foot, nine-bed inpatient/outpatient unit that provides clinical research facilities and patient-oriented resources, including nursing, nutrition, laboratory and physiological assessment components. Resources for patient-oriented research, as well as flexible, mobile research personnel are available for investigators and staff, including a designated research patient unit in the Western Human Nutrition Research Center on the Davis campus. The CCRC, the main component of the Participant and Clinical Interactions Resources program, provides continuous 24 hours/day, 7 days/week support for inpatient and outpatient protocols.

Design, Biostatistics, and Clinical Research Ethics
This program assists investigators with ethical study design and analysis. Biostatisticians and a bioethicist are available to review and assist with study design, education and training, and ethics on a consultative basis as needed.

Regulatory Knowledge and Support
The goal of this program is to facilitate the clinical and translational research process for investigators and research staff. A major component of this program is the Investigator Support Team, consisting of four Senior Clinical Research Coordinators (CRCs), a Senior Research Compliance Analyst, and an Administrative Assistant. Services include assistance with all regulatory aspects of investigator- and sponsor-initiated research, including budgets, contracts, compliance, IND/IDE applications, and IRB applications. In collaboration with the School of Medicine’s Clinical Trials Office, this program coordinates and oversees the Clinical Research Training Program for investigators, pharmacists, nurses and staff, and the monthly, CME-approved brown-bag education seminars. In addition, the Senior CRCs are available for study coverage as needed. The program is also responsible for the content of the UC Davis Health System’s Clinical Trials Web site, featuring active and recruiting trials.