Center for Translational & Clinical Research Aachen (CTC-A)
The CTC-A was founded in 2010 by the Medical Faculty of the RWTH Aachen University as an operative service institution to support patient-oriented research. As an independent operating unit, the CTC-A aims to improve structures for the planning, execution and evaluation of clinical trials at the University Hospital Aachen.
Range of services
The Center for Translational & Clinical Research Aachen (CTC-A) is the central contact point for the coordination of industrial and self-initiated clinical trials at the University Hospital RWTH Aachen. In addition to providing formal and administrative support for researchers with funding applications and planning, conducting and evaluating clinical trials, the CTC-A's tasks also include full cost calculations and contract reviews in cooperation with the Legal Affairs Division. Due to the close collaboration with the Institute for Medical Informatics at RWTH Aachen University, concepts for data management and IT structures can be individually developed and adapted for each study. Moreover, the CTC-A offers the service of the "Flying Study Nurse" to support trial centers directly on site. In 2016, the Translation Centre was established as a new integrative unit to support and advise research teams in transferring their experimental developments into clinical application.
Division of translational research at the CTC-A
The medical progress is increasingly dependent on the knowledge and developments in the natural and engineering sciences. By networking all three disciplines, RWTH Aachen University's profile area of medicine and technology therefore actively aims to generate new diagnostic and therapeutic methods. In order to bring new university developments into clinical application, the division of translational research at the CTC-A was founded in 2016 under the umbrella of the CTC-A. The division of translational research at the CTC-A is intended to support research teams in particular in clarifying regulatory affairs, preclinical evaluation of products and the preparation of phase I or first-in-patient studies. An important interface in the quality assurance of preclinical data is the laboratory animal science department of the RWTH Aachen University Hospital.
Further education academy
The conduct of clinical trials is complex and requires specially trained personnel. The CTC-A therefore offers various GCP training courses for investigators, study assistants and persons who are involved in patient-oriented research or wish to acquire knowledge of good clinical practice in clinical trials. The courses are accredited by the responsible Medical Council NRW as professional training courses for investigators and are accepted by ethics committees. In addition, the CTC-A offers further training to become a certified Study Nurse within the framework of the annual Study Nurse Academy. The course takes place in three blocks over a period of six months. The participants are taught well-founded theoretical backgrounds as well as practice-related content. A two-week internship also offers the opportunity to get to know the daily work of a Study Nurse under expert guidance. The further training ends with an oral and theoretical final examination. The aim of the advanced training is to support the investigators with competent specialist personnel for carrying out clinical trials.