The spectrum of translational stroke research

Translational stroke research occurs at the interface between basic science and clinical research, and encompasses contributors with varied backgrounds and areas of expertise. The traditional approach to translational stroke research is to take novel discoveries of basic researchers about the mechanisms and consequences of ischemic brain injury and evaluate the potential of these discoveries to enhance clinical stroke diagnostics and therapeutics. Animal stroke modeling and imaging are key steps in this traditional bench-to-bedside paradigm for translational stroke research. Newer approaches to translational research include reverse and lateral translation. With these paradigms, basic researchers are stimulated to improve our understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms that underlie a clinically observed phenomenon or treatment effect or improve upon an observed treatment effect by determining if drug modification can enhance a clinically beneficial effect. No matter how translational stroke research is conducted, this type of research is critical for the future and involves multidisciplinary teams that need to have productive and insightful ideas and communications.