Translational medicine is an emerging arena in the 21st century, and it bridges research results of basic sciences to clinical applications. The importance of translational research attracted considerable concern of scientists worldwide, including clinicians and researchers in the field of burn surgery in China. This review highlights some key points on translational medicine practised in the basic and clinical research of burn surgery, and they are summarized here as: the motive of the research project should be focused on how to solve problems of patients; much attention should be drawn to the difference between the cell biology and biochemical reaction in vitro and that in vivo; an animal model which simulates human pathology as much as possible should be reproduced; collaboration and sharing of resources among different disciplines should be strengthened; national and standardized criteria should be established for evaluation of the experimental result and guiding for clinical application. The aforementioned suggestions would be helpful for the application of new medicine and therapeutic approach in treating severe burn.