Research

Research at the Faculty of Medicine extends from basic research, to research at the boundary between basic and clinical research, to community medicine research.

The Faculty has three strategic areas with a special research focus: medical technology, translation research and health surveys/biobanks.

Medical Technology

Medical Technology is one of the faculty’s most important research areas. NTNU has an interdisciplinary research initiative on medical technology, coordinated by the faculty as one of the university’s six major research areas.

The faculty is also home to the Medical Imaging Laboratory (MI Lab), which has been designated a Centre for Research-based Innovation (SFI) by the Research Council of Norway.

Health Surveys

Another important focus area at the faculty is the science related to health surveys and biobanks, primarily via the The Nord-Trøndelag Health Study and the Regional Biobank of Central Norway.

Translation research

Basic research is critical in the development of clinical research and patient treatments. But to improve human health and medical treatments, scientific discoveries must be translated into practical applications. The goal of Translation Research at NTNU is to study ways of translating basic research on patients to clinical research. Clinical discoveries typically begin with basic research — where scientists study disease at the molecular or cellular level — and then progresses to the clinical level, or the patient's. The faculty’s approach to translational research represents a two-way street. Basic science provides clinicians with new tools for use in patient care, and clinical researchers make new observations about the nature and progression of disease that often stimulate basic investigations.

The European Palliative Care Research Centre and Pain and Palliation Research Group - Combines clinical research with basal research.

Several of our research groups are involved in FUGE - Functional genomics, which is a national multidisciplinary effort.

The Norwegian Center of Excellence Center for the Biology of Memory (CMB)/The Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience is an internationally recognized multidisciplinary research group at the faculty.

The EU framework programmes

The Faculty of Medicine is already an active participant in international research, and plans to increase its participation in upcoming EU framework programmes.