The Critical Illness, Inflammation and Immunology (CI3) Biobank will collect peripheral blood mononuclear cells and serum samples from critically ill patients with inflammatory conditions and associated organ dysfunction, plus controls. Combined with clinical data this collection will be a resource that drives improvements in the care of the sickest members of the community.
What is the issue for NSW?
Sepsis is the leading cause of death in the ICU and life-threatening organ dysfunction due to sepsis is a global health priority. There is have poor understanding about why some people develop severe life-threatening inflammation and organ dysfunction, and others don’t. Doctors lack a detailed understanding of the underlying immunological mechanisms involved. There is little available knowledge about longer-term outcomes for patients who survive sepsis.
What does the research aim to do and how?
This project will identify critically unwell patients with inflammatory conditions such as sepsis and determine the specific immune signatures associated with their inflammation. This immunological data will be related back to patient demographic and clinical data.
This data-linked collection will enable researchers to explore the role of the immune system in critical illness and identify targets for immune modulation. The overall aims are to define biomarkers and correlates of severe sepsis, prolonged ICU admission, and death. The hope is to identify novel therapeutic targets and to improve patient outcomes by using emerging immune modulating medications.