Our research aims to tackle a major global healthcare challenge in medicine: Sepsis

Our motivation being infections (bacteria, viruses (e.g., COVID-19; Flu), parasites (e.g., Malaria), and fungi (e.g., Candida)) are the commonest aetiology of critical illness globally. Further, clinicians currently lack reliable tools to predict which patients with infection will progress to sepsis, to diagnose, or to effectively treat the underlying immune dysregulation.

Technical summary:

Our research aims to understand the deterministic and modifiable immune mechanisms in sepsis and critical illness.

Our research goals are to : 

1. advance foundational knowledge on sepsis immunopathology to identify mechanistic immune trajectories, refine critical illness models, discover / repurpose drugs / drug targets; and
2. transform sepsis care through diagnostic innovation, contextual repositioning of biomarkers, and smart clinical trials, all aimed at improving patient outcomes.

Lay summary:

Our research centres on understanding how sepsis and other forms of critical illness occur, and why some succumb to these illnesses while others recover. Specifically, we study how the immune system that normally works to protect the body misfires during sepsis and other critical illness. By learning how these changes happen at the level of individual cells, we hope to find earlier warning signs and develop better treatments to help patients heal and return to health from sepsis and other critical illness.