The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Secondary Military Medical University (SMMU) of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) held a grand opening ceremony this summer for the Translational Medicine Institute, unveiling a new page for the SMMU in the research field of translational medicine.

The Translational Medicine Institute established by the SMMU and the CAS is a science and research entity consisting of three translational medical research centers and a key technology platform. Each research center will focus on one or two research subjects in construction according to the characteristics of medical treatment and medical science, while the key technology platform is responsible for the experimental design, management, analysis and monitoring of translational medicine.

A survey has caused great concerns: the translational rate of China's medical technology achievements is shy of 8 percent, with the gap between it and the international advanced level ever-widening in the research and development of new drugs and new apparatuses.

"It is so urgent to strengthen the research of translational medicine that it can admit of no delay any longer," said Chen Jinhua, political commissar of the SMMU. "The active move to follow the developing trend of medical science and technology consists in using clinical studies to support basic research, and using basic research to nurture clinical research in return," he added.

Up to now, the SMMU has developed and produced 40-plus new national medicines of class-I and class-II including the special cures for severe rheumatoid arthritis, severe psoriasis, ankylosing spondylitis and the like. It has taken the lead in piloting 30-plus new technologies represented by the vascular interventional treatment, and developed 30-plus kinds of medical apparatuses represented by the world's second case of artificial heart valve. (Peole's Daily)