New approach for studying trauma...( etter understanding of how the body res...),Health

"We may actually be making things worse by trying to intervene during the body's natural, adaptive response," he explains.

The group of 19 medical centers will compile an extensive database including demographic, genomic and physiologic information about patients with traumatic injuries. In the process, they plan to develop standard operating procedures for burn and trauma patients and to develop clinically relevant animal models.

Washington University and Stanford University are leading the genomics component of the project, which is working to identify the functions and relationships of genes expressed during critical illness and injury.

"Our ultimate goal," says Cobb, "is to understand, model and predict how an individual will respond to a given injury and thereby help physicians choose the best treatment for each patient."

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Contact: Joni Westerhouse
westerhousej@msnotes.wustl.edu
314-286-0120
Washington University in St. Louis
28-Oct-2002