This webinar with the title “The Future of Translational Medicine”provided an introduction to new perspectives on how to translate scientific evidence into clinical practice, and the Translational Medicine cycle.

Professor Ole Petersen was the chair of the webinar. As one of the world’s prominent physiologists, he leads a research group on disease of the pancreas. As the chair of the webinar, Professor Petersen welcomed the audience to the subject and he introduced the following expert researchers: Professor Péter Hegyi and Professor Stephen Holgate.

Professor Péter Hegyi held the first presentation with the title: “The Cycle Model for translating scientific results into community benefits”. His presentation was followed by a talk of Professor Ole Petersen. The chair of the webinar talked about “Why many discoveries in basic science have not progressed to patient care?”

The details of experts:

Professor Dr. Péter Hegyi MAE is an internal medicine specialist, gastroenterologist and clinical pharmacologist. He is a doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Deputy Chair of the Clinical & Veterinary Sciences section of the Academia Europaea. He has made important discoveries in the field of pancreatology. He has established a critical role for the duct cells in pancreatitis by discovering that (i) pancreatitis inducing agents like bile acids, fatty acids and ethanol dose-dependently deteriorate pancreatic ductal secretion via mitochondrial damage and calcium overload (ii) the function of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is strongly inhibited by alcohol and fatty acids (iii) restoration of ductal function by ATP or MPTP inhibitors decrease the severity of acute pancreatitis. Importantly, he has transferred them into randomized clinical trials to foster his scientific discoveries to patients’ benefits. He established the first Centre for Translational Medicine in Eastern and Centre Europe (https://tm-centre.org/en/).

Professor Ole Petersen CBE FMedSci FLSW MAE ML FRS is Professor of Physiology in the School of Biosciences at Cardiff University (UK). As one of the world’s prominent physiologists, he leads a research group on disease of the pancreas. Petersen was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2000, Member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in 2010 and gave the Leopoldina Lecture in 2012. He received the Nordic Insulin Foundation’s Jacobaeus Prize (1994), the Czech Academy of Sciences’ Purkynĕ Medal (2003) and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2008 for ‘Services to Science’. In 2017, he was elected Honorary Member of the German Society for Gastroenterology, Digestive & Metabolic Diseases. More recently, he received the American Physiological Society’s Walter B Cannon Memorial Award. Petersen will be presented with the Gold Medal of the Academia Europaea for his contribution to the development of European Science. Professor Petersen is Vice-President of Academia Europaea and Director of the AE Cardiff Knowledge Hub. He has been appointed Chief Editor of American Physiological Society’s open access flagship journal ‘FUNCTION’ which was launched earlier this year.

Professor Stephen Holgate is Medical Research Council Clinical Professor of Immunopharmacology at the University of Southampton (UK) with a research interest in the mechanisms of asthma and allergy. His research has focused on air pollutants, allergens and viruses in driving airway inflammation and remodelling involving injury to the epithelium and aberrant repair. In 2003 he cofounded Synairgen, to develop inhaled interferonbeta for the treatment of viral exacerbations of asthma and COPD. He was the founder chair of the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants, Chair of the Expert Panel on Air quality Standards, the Hazardous Substances Advisory Committee, and a member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. He is Special Advisor to the RCP on Air Quality. He is the 2020 recipient of the RCP Faculty of Public Health Bazalgette Champion of Evidence Award. He has been President of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology, British Thoracic Society, British Association for Lung Research and the Collegium Internationale Allergologicum. He has been Chair of MRC Population and Systems Medicine Board, the MRC Translational Research Group, Member of MRC and NERC Strategy Boards. His contributions have been recognised by a number of awards including The King Faisal International Prize in Medicine, the J Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine, and the British Thoracic Society Medal. He was a Founder Member of the Academy of Medical Sciences, served on its Council and is Founder Chair of the Clinical and Veterinary Section of the Academia Europaea.

Professor Stephen Holgate held the last presentation of the webinar entitled “Delivering personalised medicine for patient benefit”. Professor Holgate is a Medical Research Council Clinical Professor of Immunopharmacology at the University of Southampton (UK) with a research interest in the mechanisms of asthma and allergy.