Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) has a strategic alliance and affiliation agreement with the Translational Genomics Research Institute 
(TGen) in Phoenix, Arizona. The alliance offers the opportunity to leverage the strengths of each organization to more quickly and effectively translate basic research discoveries in the laboratory into tests and therapies that directly benefit patients.
Integrating Our Sciences
VARI’s primary work has been in basic research – looking for what occurs to cause disease in individual cells, and using that information to identify "biomarkers" that can help predict and diagnose diseases, and lead to the development of safer, more effective drugs. TGen is poised to translate the discoveries generated in laboratories from both organizations into real solutions for patients through its clinical research site at Scottsdale Healthcare.
Shared President and Research Director
As part of the alliance, Dr. Jeffrey Trent, TGen's President and Research Director, took on the same role at VARI in 2009. Prior to heading TGen, Dr. Trent served for 10 years as the founding Scientific Director of the Division of Intramural Research for the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Under his guidance, NHGRI’s Division of Intramural Research became an internationally recognized research center in human genetics. (more info)
