Goal I

Develop progressive and sustainable capacity for clinical and translational research in Mississippi

CCTS will support all phases of clinical and translational research by expanding and maintaining a flexible research infrastructure capable of adapting to new research approaches and technologies. UM and UMMC have existing capacity to support different phases of clinical and translational research. Neither organization currently is well positioned to address all phases, but both are capable of collaborating to address gap areas and minimize competition for limited resources by developing capacities that can be shared across organizations.

CCTS will help minimize duplication of effort, improving the efficiency of clinical and translational research in Mississippi. CCTS also will improve organizational capacities for obtaining external funding from sources such as industry sponsors, NIH and PCORI. Streamlining research processes also will improve the ability to transition projects from one translational stage to the next.

Objectives

• Develop infrastructure (staffing, physical resources)
• Assess and develop core competencies (e.g., clinical research processes, regulatory expertise, proposal development/dissemination capacity)
• Identify innovative, progressive research methods to support clinical and translational activities (e.g., use of organoids for in vitro studies, development and validation of in silico models for drug discovery and testing, creation of registries of people interested in participating in clinical trials)
• Identify and develop revenue sources to sustain activities (e.g., grants, sponsorships, technology transfer, financial agreements for CCTS services)