Research

Surgeons in the Section of Acute and Critical Care Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine have strong research interests in injury, sepsis (spread of bacteria from a focus of infection) and multiple organ dysfunction. They also play key roles in National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)-supported projects that investigate the role of genetics in critical illness and injury.

Some key areas of research include:

• Published studies that suggested solutions to two of the most common and dangerous patient safety challenges in the ICU: restoring normal phosphorus levels and preventing infections caused by catheters.
• Participation in the NIGMS-supported “Inflammation and the Host Response” large-scale collaborative research program, which aims to uncover the biological reasons why individual patients can have dramatically different outcomes after suffering a traumatic injury. Washington University and Stanford University lead the genomics component of this groundbreaking project. See Inflammation and the Host Response to Injury Program web site.
• Coordination of an NIGMS-supported annual symposium, Functional Genomics of Critical Illness and Injury, which provides a forum for interaction of the diverse skill sets necessary to apply genomics and systems biology to the study of critical illness and injury.
• NIGMS-supported studies in genetic predisposition to severe sepsis and response to therapy.
• The Cellular Injury and Adaptation Laboratory, which seeks to identify novel ways to treat multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, a common complication of severe injury and a frequent cause of death in intensive care units.
• Gut apoptosis (cell self-destruction) in sepsis and injury.
• Ethical, social and legislative aspects of genetic testing.
• The timing and method of tracheostomy.
• Applications of complex systems science to interpret physiology and modify the care of critically ill patients.
  
  

Learn more about:

• Department of Surgery research
• Volunteer for Health