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A Note on Terminology
        The terminology of functional genomics is multiplying a great speed-- in particular, new words with the “-omics” suffix. This suffix indicates the high-throughput, quantitative analysis of biological samples, which allows the simultaneous measurement of thousands of biological components such as mRNAs, proteins, or metabolites. The information obtained helps define the parts of the regulome.

The term “regulomics” refers to the genome-wide regulatory network, usually of a cell. Regulomics, like its progenitors and siblings (genomics, physionomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, etc.) is a type of systems biology, in which biological processes are modeled in a nonlinear, integrative fashion. In the specific case of regulomics, this involves identifying and understanding multiple time- and condition-dependent gene-protein regulatory networks and metabolic pathways underlying cellular processes. The term “physionomics” refers to the quantitative and integrated description of the functional behavior or the physiological state of an individual or species. The physiome describes the physiological dynamics of a normal intact organism and is derived from both information and structure (genome, proteome, and morphome). In its broadest sense, the physiome defines relationships from genome to organism and from functional behavior to gene regulation. It includes integrated models of components of organisms, such as particular organs or cell systems, biochemical pathways, or endocrine systems.
     
      Item Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) Network, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
        The ARDS Network was established as a contract program in 1994 following a national competition. Its goal is to carry out multi-center trials to efficiently test promising agents, devices, or management strategies to improve the care of patients with ARDS. Approximately 35 sites are currently in the ARDS clinical network.
     
      Item Australia/New Zealand Intensive Care Society (ANZICS)
        ANZICS is the professional and advocacy body for medical practitioners in Australia and New Zealand specializing in the care of critically ill patients. ANZICS research is conducted through its Clinical Trials Group and populated databases, including the Adult Patient Database, the Pediatric Intensive Care Registry, and the ANZICS Research Centre for Critical Care Resources.
     
      Item Das Nationale Genomforschungsnetz
        NGFN is a national research project that aims to foster “intense cooperation” among various specialties to clarify the role of genetics in the development of specific diseases that have a high incidence in Germany, prolong suffering, or result in premature death of the people affected. In addition to cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurological disorders, NGFN is investigating causes and sequelae of infection and inflammation, including trauma and sepsis.
     
      Item Inflammation and the Host Response to Injury
        “Inflammation and the Host Response to Injury” is a large-scale, collaborative research program supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). It aims to uncover the biological reasons for patients having very different outcomes after traumatic injury. This program is the first large-scale interdisciplinary program to attempt to solve the life-threatening problem of inflammation following major trauma or burn injury. Researchers from major institutions cover a wide range of specialties: surgery, genomics, proteomics, biostatistics, bioinformatics, computational biology, genetics, and molecular biology.
     
      Item National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Clinical Research Collaboration
        A corollary goal of seeking collaborative approaches to clinical science is the opportunity to recruit community-based practitioners into the research process. This can increase the breadth of patient representation as well as encourage faster adoption of scientifically valid practices. Challenges to this goal can be formidable, as we face inherent differences in health care systems that affect patient recruitment and physician participation, but programs are emerging to facilitate this process. One such program is the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Clinical Research Collaboration, which is designed to help patients, family members, and others quickly find actively recruiting research studies. This program gives physicians the opportunity to perform research in their own offices and helps to keep them current on emerging research results.

Critical care research networks are developing all the time, formally and informally. If you would like to add anything you know about collaborative research projects or programs in critical illness and injury, please contact anne@strategicresults.com.
     
      Item The Canadian Critical Care Trials Group (CCCTG)
        The CCCTG was created in 1989 to improve the care of critically ill patients through investigator-initiated research and to provide a national forum for continuing education about research methods. Today, the 120-member organization has over 30 active research programs. The group’s success has been built on the premise that common interest and collegial collaboration advances progress. CCCTG membership is self-referred and self-funded; to promote research rigor, all protocols are subjected to a pre-submission critique. Selected study subjects include mechanical ventilation therapy, coagulopathy and anemia transfusion triggers, and end-of-life care. CCCTG focuses on therapies with substantial practice variability across communities. The group’s choice to run several pilot studies has helped discern trial feasibility and acceptability as well as to identify protocol violations. See also the Critical Care Research Network at http://www.criticalcareresearch.net/
     
      Item The Combat Casualty Care Research Program, U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command
        The mission of this program is to reduce the mortality and morbidity resulting from injuries on the battlefield through the development of new life-saving strategies, new surgical techniques, biological and mechanical products, and the timely use of telemedicine technologies.

Because uncontrolled hemorrhage causes the vast majority of deaths on a conventional battlefield, finding effective ways to stop bleeding “in the field” is a top military research priority. Since genomic approaches suggest significant individual genetic variation in bleeding time, ongoing studies are pursuing additional strategies for tailoring therapy. Neuroprotection from blast injury is another important focus, prompting studies to identify brain injury biomarkers that may offer opportunities for earlier intervention.
     
      Item The National Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network
        The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHHD) has established a collaborative pediatric critical care clinical research network made up of six clinical trial centers (responsible for carrying out research projects) and a data coordinating center (the central biostatistical resource). The network aims to establish an infrastructure to pursue well-designed collaborative clinical trials and meaningful descriptive studies in pediatric critical care medicine. Areas of interest span a wide range of topics including novel therapies, ventilator therapy, trauma and neuroplasticity, high-risk behavior, child abuse and neglect, culturally sensitive care, and fetal antecedents of disease susceptibility. The group welcomes transdisciplinary inquiries.
     



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