In addition to this web of regional collaborations, the TRAIN consortium is a central node of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) network European Advanced Translational Research Infrastructure in Medicine (EATRIS) network. The Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research is also the central node of the National Centre for Health Research focusing selleck chemicals on infectious diseases.

Based on the capacities that are being regrouped here, promoters of the consortium contend that it might well be possible to go from pre-clinical pathophysiological hypothesis to lead compound to early phase II trials entirely within the TRAIN partnership, with alliances with pharmaceutical industry planned for later phases of clinical testing, PF-6463922 purchase for regulatory approval and for commercialization. Through its member institutions, the consortium has access to a number of research teams working on the development of pre-clinical therapeutic hypotheses and interventions, using classical systems such as animal models,

cell cultures and tissue collections. However, the consortium also has access to banks of natural compounds (HZI), mass compound screening equipment and expertise (HZI, Centre for Biomolecular Drug Research and Centre for Pharmaceutical Process Engineering), pharmacology and toxicology expertise (ITEM), skills in experimental medicine and clinical research (MHH and ITEM), facilities for the regulatory-compliant production and testing of new compounds (Centre for Biomolecular Drug Research, ITEM), as well as access to competences in strategic planning and coordination (VPM). TRAIN

thus closely resembles the prototypical consortium envisioned in TR models. It brings together a number of different but physically close centres of expertise with the hope that their capacities can combine and complement each other to allow advanced Tacrolimus (FK506) clinical development of new therapeutics within the public academic sector. Promoters of the consortium contend that the crisis in the pharmaceutical industry will vindicate their model, as firms in the sector would increasingly seek to “outsource” their R-D activities by tapping into academic development Selleck LEE011 projects notably (interview with TRAIN coordinator). TRAIN also has strong clinical development components through the Hannover Medical School and the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine (which both have clinical beds reserved for clinical studies, and with the first one having access to patients through its university clinics), although impetus for new project development does seem poised to originate more in individual laboratory projects rather than from clinical care and experimentation. Germany has a large academic medicine sector, composed of 36 medical schools. The German medical schools captured 1.31 billion euros out of the 5.02 billion euros of third party research funds given out to the more than 100 German universities (MFT 2011).