Purdue recognized for robust translational-research ecosystem

Purdue University will serve as mentor to the University of Oklahoma in translating research into products and processes as part of the first round of awards in the National Science Foundation’s Accelerating Research Translation (ART) program. Awards were made to “enable academic institutions to accelerate the pace and scale of translational research that will grow the nation’s economy.”

As part of the program, each awardee is partnered with an institution recognized for its robust ecosystem for translating research. Dan DeLaurentis, vice president of the centers and institutes in the Discovery Park District, will lead mentoring on behalf of Purdue.

The prime reason that Purdue was chosen as a mentor institution is the success of Purdue’s Centers and Institutes at Discovery Park District, which fuel research and research translation. The more than 15 interdisciplinary organizations bring together researchers from across disciplines to advance large-scale research that enable breakthroughs and drive innovations in support of solving the world’s most critical problems. These organizations are headquartered within state-of-the-art research and innovation facilities in the district, many open to industry and outsider users and enable inquiry in fields including nanotechnology, health sciences, drug discovery and synthesis, sustainability, energy transition, national security and defense, data science, AI and cybersecurity, and entrepreneurship and commercialization.

The district, which is Purdue’s ever-growing mixed use innovation hub, has grown steadily since its formation in 2001, supported by more than $1 billion in external sponsored research, private gifts and endowments. It serves as a vital resource to the university’s campus-wide research enterprise as well as many outside private and public partners who wish to leverage the university’s world-class talent, state-of-the-art instruments and novel research techniques. According to NSF, a strong partnership between the awardee institution and a mentoring institution with an established translational research ecosystem is one of the unique features of the ART program. At least 15 universities are among the partner mentoring institutions that are part of the ART network formed by this cohort of awardees.

The University of Oklahoma will use the four-year, $6 million award, to support the Intensifying Translational Research in Oklahoma (InTRO) project, intended to improve the process of research findings being translated into processes and products for use by the public, industry, government, and others.  InTRO will also provide training for future engineers and scientists to pursue careers in translational research so that there is a sustainable pipeline of discoveries reaching the public. Purdue University is proud to mentor University of Oklahoma’s growth in this important endeavor.

Writer: Mary Martialay, mmartial@purdue.edu

Source: Mary Ann Bobillo, operations manager Discovery Park District Institutes and Centers, mbobillo@purdue.edu