Transcending limitations of translational research on Multiple Sclerosis and Autism Spectrum Disorder - Spectral, brain-related disorder, patient outcomes, cognition, effect, symptoms

TRANSCEND brings together expertise in biomedical, computational, behavioural, clinical, epidemiological and philosophicalresearch to advance translational research in medicine. TRANSCEND aims to add to the chronological and epistemic order of research from bench to bedside to practice with a more networked-based understanding of translation. This is particularly important in translational research on complex and chronic neurological conditions where the few low-hanging fruits of reductionist approaches seem to have been picked. TRANSCEND involves nine interlinked laboratories from clinical, biomedical, metamethodological, and philosophical sub-projects, which focus on autism spectrum disorder and multiple sclerosis. These conditions are characterised by an interconnected set of physical, cognitive and psychological symptoms, and unknown underlying disease mechanisms. While healthcare has been moving away from a purely single-cause view of medicine towards interconnected concepts of positive health, such a more complicated and nuanced notion of health and dis/ability is unintegrated within biomedical research. Most research designs are not well-suited to consider patient-relevant outcomes, the biological and social complexity of these conditions, and their implications in real-world healthcare settings, because their epistemology is oriented towards purification and reduction concerning research questions, disease models, and experiments.TRANSCEND proposes an integrative approach to translational research that embraces instead of reduces the complexity and diversity of the biological, clinical and social manifestations of the diagnoses. It will provide an innovative, interdisciplinary training along four research objectives to overcome key limitations of translational research on complex, chronic conditions: (1) making animal models more translational; (2) focusing on patient outcomes and scoping “disease” categories; (3) rethinking theragnostic strategies.