Center for Translational Molecular Medicine (CTMM) is dedicated to the development of medical technologies that enable the design of new and 'personalized' treatments for the main causes of mortality and diminished quality of life (cancer and cardiovascular diseases and, to a lesser extent, neurodegenerative and infectious/autoimmune diseases) and the rapid translation of these treatments to the patient.

CTMM is a public-private consortium that comprises a multidisciplinary group of parties – universities, academic medical centers, medical technology enterprises and chemical and pharmaceutical companies. CTMM is built on the foundations of former initiatives "Translational Cancer Research" (Privilege) and the Center for Molecular Medicine. CTMM headquarters are located at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

www.ctmm.nl  

Excellence in genomics, benefits for society

Excellent research, state-of-the-art technology infrastructure, societal embedding of genomics and a stimulating environment for research talent remain key elements of the NGI strategy. The main shift in focus is towards valorisation, i.e., creating added value from genomics research and application gets top priority during the period 2008-2012.

NGI approach

NGI creates societal and economic value from genomics through a network of large-scale Genomics Centres that work on targeted programmes. These centres are consortiums of universities, research institutes, industry and societal organisations.

The Genomics Centres cover the complete chain from basic science to applied research, development and finally valorisation of the results. Societal embedding and creating new economic activity is an integral part of the programme of each consortium.

http://www.genomics.nl

Worldwide socioeconomic trends drive the need for innovations in medical treatment that keep healthcare affordable and that meet demands for a higher quality of life. Biomedical materials fulfill the demand for better medical treatment by:

• making therapies less invasive and painful
• decreasing the need for revision surgery
• decreasing side effects of medical treatment and
• shortening recovery times.

Moreover, they have enormous market potential, as illustrated by their ability to enable replacement of contemporary therapies with new, innovative therapies.

Breakthrough products such as drug-eluting stents have led to dramatic changes in healthcare and spark the emergence of new markets. The economic potential of biomedical materials is recognized by governments, industry and academia around the world and this has resulted in several high profile investments in this field.

The Netherlands, with a a strong knowledge base already in place, is well positioned to secure a lead in this rapidly emerging global market and must act quickly to take advantage of this opportunity.

http://www.bmm-program.nl

To provide the metabolomic tools needed by such a wide expanse of disciplines, the NMC will concentrate its research efforts on developing technologies that address the most current biological challenges in a variety of fields. Research will aim at breaking through the bottlenecks facing metabolomics today and creating new applications for the future while standardising and validating methods and instrumentation for the entire industry, all in a collaborative environment that promotes participation in international initiatives.

Following are just some of the opportunities that will be addressed at the NMC:

In human health care, metabolites provide reliable fingerprints with important predictive value for early diagnosis of disease and intervention strategies. The progression of disease as well as resistance to disease can also be linked to changes in the metabolic profile that can be measured through metabolomic research methods. And because most metabolites are common to all organisms and have the same biological function in humans and animals, they are a key component for translational medicine.

In nutrition and plant science, metabolomics is playing an increasingly important role in the breeding of plants for food and the development of strategies for improving the safety and commercial value of food products. Metabolomic technologies help researchers develop plant varieties that meet consumer demands for improved taste, texture, and production levels and help produce novel functional ingredients for food applications. Many phenotypic traits of food plants, such as flavour, nutritional value, and disease symptoms are based on complex mixtures of metabolites, making metabolomic technologies ideal for discovering biomarker fingerprints.

http://www.metabolomicscentre.nl/