The University of Oxford's Department of Paediatrics has partnered with three Brazilian universities to offer a new course.

The translational science course will admit only 30 students initially and sets out to equip students with an in-depth understanding of how lab discoveries can transition into practical patient care and prevention techniques.

The involved Brazilian Universities are Unesp, USP, and Unicamp, all located in São Paulo.

The course will be administered by professors from the above universities, in addition to lecturers from the University of Oxford.

Further course lectures will be presented by Professor Teresa Lambe OBE from the Oxford Vaccine Group and Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert from the Pandemic Sciences Institute.

Existing undergraduate students studying medicine, physics, chemistry, biology, agriculture, and engineering, among other subjects, can choose to include the translational science course in their degrees.

Professor Sue Ann Costa Clemens CBE was a major contributor to the creation of the course, drawing from her knowledge and experience as chair of global health and clinical development at the University of Oxford.

Professor Costa Clemens said: "I am thrilled to launch this course in translational science which I have been working to establish for the last 10 years.

"It is vital that we educate the next generation of researchers on the full journey of a drug from in-lab to in-patient, highlighting the ethical, operational, and regulatory challenges required for a licensable product.

"This course will ensure innovation and better preparedness to respond to the next epidemics, pandemics, and endemic diseases, which cause harm to so many."

The course will enrol 10 students from each of the three Brazilian universities.

While the lectures will be taught remotely, there will be on-site visits to the participating universities in Brazil, a pharmaceutical manufacturing site, and potentially on-site teaching at Oxford University’s clinics, labs, and manufacturing facilities.

Professor Benedito Barraviera, the founder of the Centre for the Study of Venoms and Venomous Animals (CEVAP), said: "We want to assess the general interest in this course and so initially, it will be offered as part of an undergraduate degree.

"We envisage this will evolve into a 'Translational Science Certificate,' which would be an additional qualification and take a year to complete."

Professor Teresa Lambe said: “Our understanding of human biology of infectious disease has increased tremendously over the last few decades, yet the pace at which these discoveries have translated into new therapies for patients has been too slow.

"This course will train the next generation of investigators to transition these early discoveries into therapeutics that will positively impact human health.”