How Research Works
From new cancer medications, to advanced surgical techniques, to high-tech imaging equipment, to healthier ways to live our lives—everything we associate with the latest in medical care is the product of clinical research.
Where it starts: Basic Research.
It all starts with basic research. This is research that happens in a laboratory, long before a new idea is tested on humans. Scientists explore diseases at the level of cells and molecules, looking for new ideas that hold promise for better medical care.
From Discoveries to Treatments.
The next step is often called “translational research”. This term is used because the discoveries in the lab have to be “translated” into treatments for individuals.
These new treatments—as well as new diagnostics, new devices and other new technology—are tested with Clinical Research. Clinical researchers design studies to test how new approaches will work in people. Before any study begins, though, it must be closely examined by our Institutional Review Board (IRB). The IRB is made up of doctors, scientists and community members who make sure the study is safe and meets all federal regulations.
Getting people involved.
Once a study is approved, individuals are recruited to participate. Family doctors may tell their patients about the study, or people may read about it on a web site like this one. Results are gathered over the course of weeks, months or years. When the study is complete, the results are published so that medical professionals throughout the world can benefit from the results.
One way researchers talk about this whole process is with the phrase “bench to bedside, and from bedside to community.” In other words, scientific discoveries that begin on a scientist’s lab bench are taken all the way to a patient’s bedside and then ultimately into the community.
