Mission

The Graduate School for “Translational Research Innovation – Pharma” (TRIP), funded by the Else Kröner Fresenius-Foundation (EKFS), has been set up in Goethe-University Frankfurt as a unique training program to foster translational biomedical research. The aim of TRIP, in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Project Group for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology (TMP), is to train graduate students to become independent and creative researchers through a practically orientated program. This should generate a pool of highly-skilled young academics with a clear orientation towards the needs of the biotech and pharmaceutical industries.

As an integral and supporting component of the newly established House of Pharma, a forum in the Rhine-Main region for interdisciplinary exchange on pharmaceutical development and use, TRIP aligns research, education, infrastructure and private sector activities, furthering research endeavours across the translational divide. Ultimately, TRIP provides a structural impetus to the growth of German pharmaceutical research. TRIP organises interdisciplinary forums and facilitates connections between research and practical applications, stimulates dialogue on social themes and challenges scientific dogmas.

TRIP builds on the existing excellence of biomedical research in Goethe-University. In view of the strength and quality of research at the university, Frankfurt is an optimal site for the establishment of the new Graduate program. This competence in life sciences, together with interdisciplinary collaboration between various research disciplines has been intensively developed within the ZAFES network of collaborating academic institutes over the last 10 years. The Metropolitan region Frankfurt Rhine Main represents a unique cluster of excellence in drug research within the State of Hesse. The city of Frankfurt, as a centre of pharmaceutical innovation, with its concentration of scientific and clinical “know-how”, and a high number of pharmaceutical companies, has the potential to become a leading centre for drug research in Europe. In addition to the pharmaceutical industry, the State of Hesse is home to more than 250 biotechnology companies focussed on medical therapy and diagnostics