DIII-D is making significant contributions to a scientific basis for sustained burning plasma operation. These include explorations of increasingly reactor-relevant scenarios, studies of key issues for projecting performance, development of techniques for handling heat and particle efflux, and assessment of key issues for the ITER research plan. Advanced scenarios are being optimized in DIII-D via experiments to empirically determine the relationship between transport and the current profile, which in turn can provide essential input to inform improvement of the theory-based models that do not currently capture the observed behaviour. Joint DIII-D/JET ρ* scans in the hybrid regime imply Bohm-like confinement scaling. Startup and shutdown techniques were developed for the restrictive environment of future devices while retaining compatibility with advanced scenarios. Towards the goal of a fully predictive capability, the DIII-D program emphasizes validation of physics-based models, facilitated by a number of new and upgraded diagnostics. Specific areas include transport, rotation, energetic particles and the H-mode pedestal, but this approach permeates the entire research programme. Concerns for heat and particle efflux in future devices are addressed through studies of ELM control, disruption avoidance and mitigation, and hydrogenic retention in DIII-D's carbon wall. DIII-D continues to respond to specific needs for ITER. Recent studies have compared H-mode access in several different ion species, identifying not only isotopic, but density, rotation and geometrical dependences that may guide access to H-mode during ITER's non-activated early operation. DIII-D used an insertable module to simulate the magnetic perturbations introduced by one of ITER's three test blanket module sets, demonstrating that little impact on performance is seen at ITER equivalent levels of magnetic perturbation.