# Sepsis from Bedside to Bench to Bedside

> **NIH NIH R35** · CINCINNATI CHILDRENS HOSP MED CTR · 2020 · $505,949

## Abstract

SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
 Sepsis continues to be a major, worldwide public health problem in both adults and children.
Heterogeneity at multiple levels is an important aspect of clinical sepsis. There are many major gaps in the
field directly stemming from this heterogeneity. There is a need to better understand the fundamental host
responses to sepsis, the pathways to host failure, and to identify novel therapeutic targets. There is a need
to understand how developmental age influences the host response to sepsis. There is a need to more
reliably diagnose sepsis, including earlier pathogen class identification. There is a need to effectively predict
outcomes and assess how the risks for bad outcomes change in response to both current and novel
therapies. There is a need to characterize biological and phenotypic subclasses (endotypes) of sepsis, and
how those endotypes differentially respond to therapies. In short, there is a need to better account for the
intrinsic heterogeneity of sepsis when caring for patients and when conducting research. Accordingly, the
operational themes of this proposal are measuring and understanding sepsis heterogeneity through basic
and translational research using a bedside to bench to bedside approach. Since 2004, we have led a multi-
center study to create, maintain, and grow a robust repository of biological samples combined with
comprehensive clinical data for children with sepsis. Using genome-wide, discovery-oriented, transcriptomic
studies as the foundation, we have leveraged this database for various discoveries having direct
translational potential to the bedside. We have also leveraged these data to expand our studies to adults
with sepsis in collaboration with a number of investigators based in adult critical care medicine. The
laboratory is actively engaged in basic research involving adult and pediatric murine models of sepsis, thus
providing a robust testing ground for our clinical discoveries and observations. In fact, all of our current and
planned laboratory-based research efforts are driven by discoveries generated from our clinical and
biological database of children with sepsis. The laboratory also supports a NIGMS-sponsored T32 training
program that is currently in its 24th year of existence, and for which the PI serves as the Co-Program
Director. We propose a program of research that encompasses the full range of translation, from bedside to
bench to bedside. Our clinical and biological data repository will be leveraged to generate hypotheses about
the pathobiology of sepsis that will be tested in murine models and subsequently brought back to the
bedside to advance diagnostic, prognostic, and treatment approaches in sepsis. This framework provides a
strong foundation for collaboration and training, and will continue to be a catalyst for new investigations and
new investigators alike.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9898384
- **Project number:** 5R35GM126943-03
- **Recipient organization:** CINCINNATI CHILDRENS HOSP MED CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** HECTOR R. WONG
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $505,949
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-04-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9898384

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9898384, Sepsis from Bedside to Bench to Bedside (5R35GM126943-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9898384. Licensed CC0.

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