Translation medicine: Innovating to translate research into healthcare advances for all

In 2016, the Chinese Government set out a ‘Healthy China 2030 Plan’ to tackle challenges in the country, such as an aging population, lifestyle risks, and health inequities. The plan positions good health as critical to the ongoing prosperity of China, and calls for action from all sectors of society to work towards the goal of ‘Health for All, and All for Health’.^1,2

At the recent Roche Experience Days (RED), Dr. Xiao Xuan, Vice Dean, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, spoke about some of the developments made within the hospital to support the advancement of the Healthy China 2030 Plan, with integration and innovation playing key roles.

Renmin Hospital has existed for more than 100 years and has seen many changes in that time. Currently, the hospital is spread across three, soon to be four, campuses and holds around 7,000 beds making it the fifth largest hospital in China and one of the most comprehensive general hospitals.³

In national rankings, the hospital scores highly in several specialist areas, such as cardiovascular, neurology, and ophthalmic diseases, but one area that historically didn’t rank so highly was the laboratory department.⁴ This is something that the hospital made an effort to change, especially as Dr. Xiao describes the Laboratory Department as, “the heroes that work behind the scenes” supporting other specialist departments.

The hospital's laboratory department has seen many advances. A major change came in 2022, when “we upgraded our original center to the Translational Medicine Institute,” says Dr. Xiao, pointing out, “There are very high requirements for translational medicine research.”

The goal of translational medicine is to translate research into clinical practice to advance healthcare, a process enabled by multidisciplinary collaboration between the laboratory and clinical teams.⁵ A core component of translational medicine is abundant clinical resources, and in this, the hospital is rich. “In addition to that, we also have a Biobank, a Big Data analysis platform, and also Product Incubation Interfacing platforms,” says Dr. Xiao.

Dr. Xiao continues, “With the combination of the Laboratory Department and Translational Medicine Institute, we are able to cover three main functions. Namely, clinical research, physical research, and applied research. With all those combined then we can achieve the systematic solution to solve the core problem of translational medical research which is ‘research, transform and production'”.

To maximize the benefits of the Translational Medicine Institute, the hospital implemented a ‘go broad’ strategy to learn from international hospitals and organizations. “We invited experts at home and abroad, Nobel Prize laureates, academics, directors of different associations and societies, and leaders in different disciplines, to come to our people's podium to present. They shared with us their experience in terms of academic research, in terms of clinical practice, and in terms of education,” Dr. Xiao explains. Alongside external cooperation, the hospital made efforts to build platforms and systems, gather talents and resources, promote exchanges, and establish projects in key areas.

Overall, they created the right conditions to attract top talent to the organization. The approach has already seen actionable outputs in published research. “Last year a group published a paper in Neuron providing information for Parkinson's disease early detection. They successfully found a target for the tracer, and within this marker, we can detect Parkinson’s disease earlier, in a better fashion,” says Dr. Xiao.⁶ Further to this, a group also published findings for Alzheimer's disease in the Journal of Nature. “They looked at why there are sexual differences in Alzheimer's disease, and why women have earlier onset of the disease. This provided information and evidence for earlier intervention,” explains Dr. Xiao.⁷

Another result of interdisciplinary cooperation is the introduction of several examples of intelligent healthcare within the hospital:

The Intelligent and real-time endoscopic analytical device (I-READ) is a globally exclusive AI-aided endoscopy device with both upper and lower gastrointestinal (GI) functions.⁸  “It is a tube connecting the upper and lower GI tract so the blind zone can be reduced. The detection rate for early gastric cancer and colorectal adenocarcinoma is significantly improved,” says Dr. Xiao.

They also have a guided puncture system that uses AI to guide prostate punctures or biopsies. The system is the first in China, allowing for easier surgery and a shorter treatment process with a faster recovery and better therapeutic effect.⁸

While the benefits of the Translational Medicine Institute are already being seen, Dr. Xiao ultimately aims to be a “first-class platform”. The goals are to enhance the hospital’s translational medical research capacity, solve barriers to the translational process, and improve the success rate of translational products and technologies.

For further details on the work at Renmin Hospital, watch Dr. Xiao’s full presentation.