Next generation partnerships in translational science and medicine: Partnerships between academics, big pharma, biotech firms, philanthropists and patients look set to change the way science advances.

D uring graduation season, it is not uncommon for senior scientists to dispense wisdom from stages, lecterns, bus stops or bar stools. Nearly 50 years ago, in a memorable line from the 1967 movie, The Graduate, a single word of career advice is bestowed upon the film’s protagonist: plastics. For the biomedical graduate in 2015, another “p” word might be more appropriate: partnerships. Partnerships between academia, pharmaceutical companies, biotech firms, foundations, patients, and their families are inexorably changing the nature of biomedical research and will inevitably impact on how science is funded, organized, and conducted. They will also, one hopes, unlock the enormous potential of translational science for finding new treatments, cures, preventions, and diagnostics against a wide range of complex and/or rare diseases. ...................................................... “Partnerships between academia, pharmaceutical companies, biotech firms, foundations, patients and their families are inexorably changing the nature of biomedical research. . .” ......................................................