Type of Research (CU Definitions)

Basic and Early Translational Research(also called fundamental or bench research): Research that provides the foundation of knowledge for the applied science that follows. This type of research encompasses scientific disciplines such as biochemistry, microbiology, physiology, cell biology, molecular biology, neuroscience, bioengineering, and pharmacology, and their interplay, and involves laboratory studies with cell cultures and animal model systems, as well as molecular/biochemical studies utilizing human specimens (including -omic studies) that address fundamental mechanisms of physiological function and disease. Additionally, this can include computational modeling, molecular epidemiology, and experimentation in other nonhuman model systems. Basic science also increasingly extends to behavioral and social sciences.

Etiologic, Mechanistic and Clinical Efficacy Research: Research with human subjects that is focused on individual patients. Research conducted with human subjects (or on material of human origin such as tissues, DNA, specimens, and cognitive phenomena) for which an investigator (or colleague) directly interacts with human subjects or with individual subject’s data. Excluded from this definition are in vitro studies that utilize human tissues that cannot be linked to a living individual. Clinical Research includes: (a) mechanisms of human disease, including basic experimental studies in humans, (b), prevention and therapeutic interventions in controlled settings, (c) classical clinical trials, (d) development of new technologies evaluated at the individual human subject level and e) observational epidemiologic research.

Health Services, Outcomes and Clinical Effectiveness Research: Research which studies the end results (outcomes) of the structure, processes and service delivery of the health care system on the health and well-being of patients and populations. This would include: a) epidemiological research modeling predictors of patient outcomes, b) pragmatic trials of preventive or therapeutic interventions in real world settings, c) studies of implementation and dissemination of evidence-based health care interventions, and d) epidemiologic surveillance studies