# Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network - Clinical Site

> **NIH NIH RL1** · CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $142,477

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT – Children’s Hospital of Michigan
The Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network (CPCCRN) is essential to advancing the science 
and practice of pediatric critical care medicine. The overall aim of this site proposal is for Children’s Hospital of 
Michigan (CHM), under the leadership of Kathleen Meert, MD, to continue as a clinical site in the new and 
expanded CPCCRN. Dr. Meert, site-PI for the CPCCRN for the past 15 years, is a pediatric intensivist with a 
wealth of clinical and translational research experience. Dr. Meert has successfully mentored many junior 
investigators at CHM and other CPCCRN sites, and produced numerous scientific publications for the 
CPCCRN. CHM is a free-standing, tertiary care, academic children’s hospital located in Detroit, Michigan, that 
serves children and families with diverse racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Strengths of CHM as 
a clinical site include the new (2017) Pediatric (PICU) and Cardiac (CICU) intensive care units with a total of 48 
beds and over 2,000 admissions annually. CHM offers the full spectrum of pediatric and surgical subspecialty 
services, and is an American College of Surgeons Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center and an American Burn 
Association Pediatric Burn Center. In addition to the resources available at CHM, Spectrum Health DeVos 
Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, will serve as an Ancillary Site under the leadership of Surender 
Rajasekaran, MD, MPH. DeVos has a total of 32 ICU beds that include a 24-bed PICU and 8-bed CICU; these 
units admit approximately 1,500 children annually. Together, CHM and DeVos will provide access to 80 ICU 
beds and over 3,500 annual admissions, enabling full participation in large randomized controlled trials (RCT). 
The “Personalized Immunomodulation in Sepsis-Induced Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome (MODS)” trial 
proposed in this application is a large RCT of personalized, targeted management of immune function in 
children with sepsis-induced MODS. The trial addresses the hypothesis that immunosuppressed children will 
benefit from granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and children with hyperinflammation 
will benefit from targeted anti-inflammatory therapy with anakinra (recombinant IL-1 receptor antagonist) or 
tocilizumab (IL-6 receptor blocking antibody). Benefit will be evaluated in terms of duration and severity of 
organ dysfunction, and health-related quality of life and family functioning at 3 and 12 months. Dr. Meert and 
her research team are thoroughly familiar with the CPCCRN studies on which this trial is based including 
methods of sample collection and processing for immunophenotyping, dosing and administration of GM-CSF, 
and collection of short- and long-term sepsis-related outcomes. Dr. Rajasekaran has research expertise in the 
pathogenetic mechanisms underlying pediatric MODS making him well-suited to conduct this trial. Dr. Meert 
and Dr. Rajase...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10907542
- **Project number:** 5RL1HD107773-04
- **Recipient organization:** CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** KATHLEEN L. MEERT
- **Activity code:** RL1 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $142,477
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-08-18 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10907542

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10907542, Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network - Clinical Site (5RL1HD107773-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10907542. Licensed CC0.

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