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Laboratory Representative
Description
The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) is one of 27 Institutes and Centers (ICs) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Established to transform and accelerate the translational research process, NCATS is all about getting more treatments to more patients more quickly. The Center complements other NIH ICs, government agencies, the private sector and the nonprofit community; rather than concentrating on specific diseases, NCATS focuses on what is common among them.
Technology Transfer Mechanisms:
- Confidential Disclosure Agreements (CDAs)
- Research Collaboration Agreements (RCAs)
- Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs)
- Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs)
- Patent License Agreements
Mission
Several thousand genetic diseases affect humans, of which only about 500 have any treatment. Current methods of developing a new intervention take too long, are too costly, and the vast majority of new therapies - about 95 percent - never make it past clinical trials. In fact, the average duration from discovery of a therapeutic target to approval of a new drug currently is about 14 years, and the cost per successful drug can be more than $1 billion. Even when a new drug or other intervention is developed and shown to be effective in clinical trials, many years may pass before all patients who could benefit from it are identified and treated.
Many scientific and organizational roadblocks can stand in the way of realizing that potential. Obstacles along the path to translation include:
* Lack of understanding about the science of translation, leading to unpredictability and frequent failure of possible interventions
* A shortage of qualified investigators
* Organizational structures and incentives that do not encourage the teamwork essential to translational science
* Inflexible, inefficient clinical trial designs and low participation in studies
* Regulatory science issues
NCATS aims to bridge these gaps by developing new approaches, technologies, resources and models; demonstrating their usefulness; and disseminating the resulting data, analyses and methodologies to the broad scientific community.
Technology Disciplines
Pages

This website contains all current funding opportunities at NCATS.

Through its Discovering New Therapeutic Uses for Existing Molecules (New Therapeutic Uses) program, NCATS aims to improve the process of developing new treatments and cures for disease by finding new uses for existing therapies that already have cleared several key steps along the development path. This also is known as drug repurposing. Learn more about New Therapeutic Uses.

The SBIR and STTR programs are government set-aside initiatives for small businesses and research organizations in the United States. These programs — in which NCATS participates alongside other NIH Institutes and Centers as well as other federal agencies — enable small businesses to engage in research and development that has the potential for commercialization and public benefit. The programs are one of the largest sources of early-stage U.S. technology financing. Learn more about these programs and others focused on small business support.

The Tissue Chip for Drug Screening program aims to develop bioengineered devices to improve the process of predicting whether drugs will be safe or toxic in humans. Learn more.