A brand new infrastructure to strengthen Luxembourg’s leading activities in translational medicine

19 December 2022

Making translational medicine a reality

With the creation of the LCTR, researchers and clinicians take a further step toward a patient-centric clinical research. The Luxembourg Clinical and Translational Research Centre (LCTR) thus contributes to consolidate the reputation of Luxembourg’s research and healthcare ecosysytem as an international leader in translational medecine.

Personalised healthcare is a priority of Luxembourg’s research and innovation strategy, making translational medecine a key discipline for research institutions of the country.

Resulting from a collaboration between the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg (CHL) and the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH), the Luxembourg Clinical and Translational Research Centre (LCTR- Fuerschungsklinik Lëtzebuerg) is the first national research infrastructure that brings together clinicians, researchers and patients with the aim of translating research findings into tangible therapeutic and diagnostic solutions. 

Creating cutting-edge translational research

This brand new infrastructure offers all healthcare and research players in Luxembourg a platform to foster technological innovation and translate it into routine clinical practice. It also aims to develop novel personalised medical solutions to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of major chronic diseases – such as cancer, infectious diseases, and immune and neurodegenerative disorders, among others – thereby addressing currently unmet patient needs.

The LCTR will pool together cutting-edge research infrastructure, medical equipment, and administrative and project management support from the Research Unit of the CHL and from the Translational Medicine Operations Hub (TMOH) of the LIH, and make them available to researchers and clinicians from Luxembourg’s hospitals and research institutions. 

This will offer them the opportunity to develop innovative translational and clinical research projects, creating a bridge between research and healthcare and promoting the integration of patient samples and real-life data in research, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of clinical trials and improving patient outcomes.

Prof. Ulf Nehrbass, CEO of the LIH

Indeed, the LCTR is at the juncture between basic research and epidemiological and clinical research, putting the patient at the heart of its activities. Eligible patients will have the opportunity to actively take part in ground-breaking epidemiological and translational research projects, as well as clinical trials, thereby gaining access to and directly benefiting from novel therapies and innovative diagnostic tools, which would otherwise unavailable to them. 

The LCTR will be able to host numerous existing translational programmes focused on topics and diseases such as Parkinson’s Disease (National Centre of Excellence in Research on Parkinson’s disease – NCER-PD), cancer (National Centre for Translational Cancer Research in Luxembourg – NCTCR), digital precision health (Clinnova) and COVID-19 (e.g. CoVaLux, CON-VINCE, Predi-COVID, etc.), among others. LCTR Fuerschungsklinik Lëtzebuerg projects will be selected by a dedicated Translational Selection Committee (TSC).

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Source: Luxembourg Institute of Health

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