Molecular determinants of health and disease

A continuous key challenge for health-related research is the translation of basic research into clinical practice. Thus, efficient support structures are needed to promote the progress of research findings into clinical application. The fundamental coordinated approaches for bridging the two ends – from bench to bedside – have been proven and are still being further improved as best practice models in the Interdisciplinary Centre for Clinical Research (IZKF) at the Medical Faculty of the University of Münster.

The IZKF is a collaborative funding centre for disease-oriented research, established in the mid-90s at the University of Münster by the first structural development programme of the German Federal Government in university medicine. Today, the IZKF is consolidated in the budget of the Medical Faculty and offers various funding instruments to support high-level research with clinical perspective. This includes 3-year research grants, SEED funding to help young clinician scientists to establish their own research group and ClinicSTART projects to initiate small investigator-driven clinical trials. Furthermore, the IZKF initiates and supports core facility activities, which has helped the Medical Faculty to install important and well used service platforms, e.g. in multimodal imaging or genomics.

The overall goal of the IZKF Münster is to foster the translation of basic research findings into clinical practice, thereby facilitating the integration between different disciplines of basic and clinical science and enhancing internationally recognised top-level research. It offers research grants in all defined profile research areas of the Medical Faculty Münster, i.e. (a) inflammation and infection, (b) vascular diseases, (c) nervous system diseases and (d) cell differentiation, regeneration and neoplasia. With this strategy, it helps to promote the development of new joint interdisciplinary research activities.

This Highlight Issue of Biological Chemistry is published on the occasion of IZKF Münster’s 25th anniversary. It includes review articles of current and former members of the IZKF covering a wide range of topics, from oncology to dermatology, or infection research to immunology, representing the broad spectrum and the interdisciplinary nature of scientific research within the IZKF. All authors have received or receive funding by the IZKF and it is only fair to say, that the IZKF support was and still is a vital and very successful instrument to drive forward individual research careers and to develop individual research profiles.