The Scripps Translational Science Institute is getting another $29 million over the next five years to continue its work on genomic and digital health.
The STSI, a collaborative program launched in 2008 by San Diego-based Scripps Health and The Scripps Research Institute in partnership with the San Diego Supercomputer Center, was among 15 research centers spread across the country to have its funding renewed by the National Institutes for Health, which issues grants in the form of Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA). STSI had received $20 million in funding through the CTSA in 2008.
“We are thrilled to have the NIH support us in our ambitious efforts to transform the future of medicine by focusing on genomics, wireless technology and bioinformatics,” said Eric Topol, MD, Scripps Health's chief academic officer, a professor of genomics at the Scripps Research Institute and the STSI's director, in a press release. Topol added that using the NIH grant, and "along with all of the remarkable brain trust assets in San Diego’s life sciences community," the institutions are working to make personalized medicine a reality.
“Individualized medicine holds great promise,” added Michael A. Marletta, president and CEO of The Scripps Research Institute, in the release. “I am delighted to bring our scientific expertise at the intersection of biology and chemistry to bear on this exciting new approach to developing the therapies of the future. Eric Topol deserves our thanks for his leadership and for bringing our institutions together. We hope to capitalize on this more in the future.”
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Aside from genomic and bioinformatics projects, the STSI has also served as a testing center for a multitude of wireless devices and mHealth projects focused on personalizing healthcare. Officials point out that more than 150 companies in the San Diego area are working on wireless health applications and devices.
Scripps Health president and CEO Chris Van Gorder explained in the release that the participating organizations "are moving away from a sickness model of care – one that treats you when you are ill – to a prevention and wellness model that helps patients avoid serious illness and hospitalization. Genomics and wireless medicine are playing vital roles in that transformation.”
This past August, Scripps Health unveiled Wired for Health, a large-scale study undertaken by STSI with help from Qualcomm Life, HealthComp and Accenture that explores the intersection of wireless health, healthcare and social networks. An estimated 200 people with common chronic conditions and high healthcare bills were recruited for the study, which seeks to examine how mobile devices can be used to improve outcomes and reduce costs.
“We are excited to embark on one of the first robust, cross-industry studies using multiple mobile medical sensors to determine whether we can lower healthcare costs and resource consumption through wireless health technology,” Topol said in a press release announcing the project.
One year ago, STSI received a $3.5 million grant from the Qualcomm Foundation to launch a new program that explores how wireless biosensor systems can be used to detect and treat heart attacks, type 1 diabetes and certain types of cancer.
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